Life Swap
by TheBookShelf
Summary: "I'd like to see how you handle being me for a day." "You should try being me for a day." One sentence, one unintentional wish. Follow Rose and Dimitri's antics when their lives are swapped, what havoc will they wreak at St. Vladimir's?
1. Life Swap

**I hope you guys all enjoy this; I thought it'd be fun to write so decided to just do it. I in no way own either Vampire Academy or the Freaky Friday story line thing. Although I wish I did because they are both awesome in my opinion.**

**Oh and by the way, this story is set just after Rose and Dimitri had their 'chat' in the chapel in Shadow Kissed. The day after, I believe. Rose is on half time for the field experience and has practice with Dimitri in the gym. She doesn't have to guard Christian at night, as we know from the book. **

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**CHAPTER ONE**

**"LIFE SWAP" **

**RPOV**

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Dimitri swung my legs out from underneath me, making me fall backwards onto the mat painfully. "Ouch," I groaned, placing my hand on my forehead to try and ward off the oncoming headache. All of a sudden Dimitri appeared above me, concern etched on his beautiful features as he studied me from head to toe, trying to see if I had any serious injuries.

I just glared at him from where I was sprawled out on the gym floor, watching incredulously as his anxious expression turned into one of amusement. He must have just realised that I was getting myself ready to say my next sarcastic quip, and now he knew that I wasn't seriously hurt. I opened my mouth to start to give him one of my infamous Rose Hathaway lectures, but he just smiled at me smugly and placed his hand against my cheek lightly. A slight gasp escaped from my lips, I was surprised that he even allowed himself that amount of contact. "You should pay attention next time, Roza." Dimitri said condescendingly, shaking his head slightly in amusement before pulling away from my body fully.

"For your information Comrade, I was paying attention." I replied and started to struggle to get into a sitting position.

Dimitri smirked at me, clearly enjoying watching me suffer, and offered me his large calloused hand. "I can do this," I practically spat, choosing to take all of my pent up anger out on him. _Hey, better him—a dhampir—than a random Moroi, right? After all, they come first. _I thought kind of bitterly.

"Fine," he responded brusquely. Dimitri then turned on his heels, leaving me to struggle, and started to set up our next activity. I took that as my chance.

I shot up off of the cold gym floor and started to sprint towards the exit, I needed to escape right now while I still had a handle on myself. Dimitri didn't need to see me when I was like this, I didn't want him to see me when I was like this. Not when I could feel the darkness starting to threaten my sanity. But, much to my dismay, before I could even place a finger on the gym's heavy double doors, I felt strong hands wrap around my forearm. They pulled me back further into the school's gym, their grip never faltering—no matter how many times I kicked and flailed.

"Rose, what's the matter?" Dimitri questioned frantically, looking deeply into my chocolate brown eyes. "Roza?"

I wasn't going to answer him; he wouldn't understand what I was going through. _Sure,_ I thought, _last night he'd held me in his arms__ in the chapel and told me that he would always understand, but I knew deep down that he wouldn't._ I wasn't going to answer him and I didn't particularly want to either, that was until his free hand cupped my chin and forced me to meet his gaze. His eyes radiated the love and trust he felt for me, they begged for me to confide in him as he would me. I had felt this kind of connection to him last night however now it was intensified, it was so intimate and yet still comforting. I knew now that I would have no option but to open up and confess to him, not when he was looking at me like that anyway. Sighing softly to myself, I lowered my gaze to the ground, contemplating what, exactly, I would tell him.

"Rose, is it the darkness?" He asked tenderly, extending his thumb and rubbing it against my cheek in slow, gentle circles. "You can tell me, I'll understand."

He was right, I could tell him. Dimitri's eyes softened as he realised that I was about to open up to him, and his lips curled up at the corners into what only can be described as a relieved smile. I would and could tell him... after all, he understood me comple—suddenly, I snapped. Spirit's darkness consumed me, possessing my body with rage and hatred. I resented feeling that way because of the darkness and some left over, rational part of my brain tried to tell me to stop and think about what I was doing. It was a hopeless thought though, pretty soon I started to thrash against Dimitri's tight hold, every cell in my body was telling me to escape from the gym and hit someone_— anyone. _I hated everyone and everything.

"How could you _possibly_ know what it feels like, Dimitri?" I said snidely, standing still and cocking my head to the side in mock interest. "Please, enlighten me."

"Rose!" He snapped, gripping down harder on my shoulders when I started to try and shove past him again. "This isn't you."

"How do you know if this isn't me, Comrade? You can't—you don't know what it is like to be_ Rose Hathaway._ It's hard, you know." I screeched at him, clawing at his hands on my shoulders to try and escape. "It's hard," I repeated, my voice was softer this time as I had started to calm down.

Dimitri hadn't realised that the darkness had started to disperse and leave my body altogether, his strong hands still clutched my shoulders almost painfully and they showed no signs of letting go anytime soon. "Everyone's life is hard, Rose." He said coolly, making the darkness flare up once more. _How dare he just brush of the effects of darkness as though it was nothing._ "In fact, my life is hard as well you should try being me for a day. I'm on guard practically twenty four seven, I can't love who I want to because she's seven years younger than me and everyone expects the best of you because you're _Dimitri Belikov_."

Some rational part of my mind realised that Dimitri was just saying this to comfort me, to try and calm me down so I could see sense. He was trying to tell me that lots of people had it bad, in different ways and that meant that I could talk to people about my... condition and that they'd understand. However, the irrational part of my mind was just _angry._ He had absolutely _no_ idea of just how bad darkness could be. He had none at all. Hearing him dismiss the effects of darkness and compare it to something as trivial as being on guard, which was our job anyway, just angered me even more, and I'm sure that if I could have seen my eyes they would have been almost black with rage.

"Well, I'd like to see how you handle being me for a day." I retorted, watching intently as his almost frenzied expression softened into something more pleasant. For a moment, I wondered why but then I felt it. The horrid darkness disappeared completely, leaving me exhausted and slightly breathless from the experience. It was as though a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, I was the usual care free Rose once more.

"Roza, are you okay?" Dimitri said enquiringly, watching me almost hungrily as I wrapped my arms around his neck. To my surprise he didn't pull back from my embrace so I decided to test my luck. I crashed my lips down on his, letting all of the left over passion and anger from spirit's darkness translate into physicality as our mouths moved together in synchronisation. Dimitri pulled me closer to him and released my pony tail from it's hair band, tangling his fingers in the hair at the back of my neck. I was astounded at this unlikely behaviour and pulled back slightly, trying my best to raise one of my eyebrows at him and hoping that it would work this time. Dimitri chuckled at my attempt and lightly kissed my neck, making my heart beat erratic. I guess it hadn't then.

"I'll take that as a yes." He smirked, winding a piece of my almost black hair around his finger which made me shiver in pleasure. "Come on, practice is over now anyway. I'll walk you back to your dorm."

I nodded, agreeing to go straight to my dorm instead of socialising like I normally would do after practice. The exhaustion that came with the darkness was weighing on me like a ton of bricks. I knew that I would be glad to finally fall into bed and allow sleep to take me into what I hoped was going to be a dreamless sleep. Dimitri and I walked in companionable silence towards my dorm room, not needing words to communicate. Our relationship was as close as mine and Lissa's, if not closer. We understood each other completely, so much so that the silence was pleasant rather than awkward and uncomfortable. Soon, almost too soon, we reached the door to my dorm room.

"Goodnight, Comrade." I whispered softly and pecked him on the lips before turning to open my door, smiling smugly to myself. I still couldn't believe that he was letting me do that now.

Luckily, as soon as I collapsed onto my slightly uncomfortable bed I fell into a deep, dreamless slumber. It was not interrupted by any spirit users or even my own imagination for that matter, it was just how I liked it.

When I woke up, feeling fully alert and completely euphoric I might add, I realised that it had been years since I'd last felt this way first thing on a morning. Because normally I would have been interrupted by a screeching alarm clock. _An alarm clock that hadn't actually gone off_ today, I realised with a start. Panic surged through me as my eyes shot open, I was going to be _so_ late for class_—Stan's class_.

However, my frantic thoughts were soon interrupted when I didn't recognise where I was.

I was staring up at a completely different ceiling. I sat up in bed, some part of me recognising that it was much more comfortable than the one in my dorm room _and _it was much larger. _This wasn't where I fell asleep, _I thought to myself, a_lthough this room does seem familiar._ Then it all snapped into place, I had been here before and I wasn't surprised that I didn't recognise it straight away considering how preoccupied I'd been back then. Yes, there was his bookcase, which was filled with western novels. There was his lamp, which once, on a night not so long ago, glowed dimly on the bedside table. There was his leather duster, hanging over the back of a nearby chair. I was in Dimitri's room.

An uneasy feeling churned in my stomach, I couldn't recall falling asleep here but this could still get us into so much trouble. My gaze travelled down, hoping with every cell in my body that I was fully clothed and hadn't done anything last night that could potentially cost Dimitri his job. Only what I saw wasn't at all what I was expecting...

When I looked down at my body I wasn't Rose Hathaway, I was Dimitri Belikov.

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**Gasp!**

**I hope you guys all enjoyed this first chapter; I can't wait till the next chapter which will be in Dimitri's POV. Excitement! Review if you'd like guys, I love to hear from you all! :D**


	2. Dimitri Awakens

**A/N: Thank you guys for all of your reviews they were all very awesome! I hope you enjoy this chapter, the next one should be up soon... maybe tomorrow? I also promise that it will have more action than this one as we've now had both of their realisations. Enjoy!**

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**CHAPTER TWO**

**"DIMITRI AWAKENS"**

**DPOV**

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Buzz..._ Buzz..._ I groaned and slung an arm over my eyes, searching for the snooze button blindly with my free hand. The surface of the clock was scratched, as though it had been thrown across the room a couple of times and I chuckled sleepily at this image. Then suddenly my guardian instincts kicked in, this wasn't my alarm clock—_hell, I didn't even own an alarm clock._

I shot up into a sitting position on the uncomfortable and creaky bed, taking in my surroundings. The furniture was unfamiliar, as was the wallpaper and the view from the window. _I was in a novice's dorm room,_ I realised in confusion. I definitely didn't fall asleep last night in a novice's dorm room.

The room was fairly blank for someone who had probably lived here for a while now, the walls were plain and the room only held the standard furniture. Whoever it was had to either not be interested in materialistic things or had just moved here. _Or maybe both,_ I realised uneasily. _B__ut it couldn't be her's, could it?_

In the small room there was only a _really_ uncomfortable single bed, a desk with an ancient computer on top of it, a blue desk chair, a wooden wardrobe and a mirror in the corner. I leapt out of bed to inspect the room further, feeling the need to find out exactly who's room I was in and why I was in here in the first place. Although I had a pretty good idea of who's room I was in. I just wanted to be sure, it was a guardian's instinct.

I turned around in a slow circle, taking in every corner of the room carefully from top to bottom. The corners of my mouth curled up into a small smile when I saw the photo tacked up on the wall above the single bed. It was a photo of Rose and Vasilisa and they were both fairies—complete with fairy wings and glitter. The photo looked old under closer inspection, the edges of the picture were curled up and the girls had aged considerably in the past few years. They were probably around fifteen when the photo had been taken, it was probably around the time they'd run away to Portland.

So, I was definitely in Rose's room. How odd. "I wonder how I got here then," I muttered to myself under my breath, scratching my forehead in confusion. I started to pace back and forth but stopped after a while when I realised that something was up. My eyebrows shot up when I realised what it was, my strides weren't as long as usual and they didn't cover this small room as quickly as they should. Soon though this became unimportant, I had bigger worries than getting slightly shorter. We _were going to get into so much trouble, _I thought anxiously,_ I don't even know how I ended up here._ My thoughts were soon interrupted however by a short ringing noise coming from the bedside table.

It was Rose's phone and the screen was lighting up, announcing a text from Eddie. Rather irrationally, jealousy surged through me and I found myself clenching my fists; I knew that I didn't even have a right to feel jealousy, Roza wasn't actually mine—or, at least, not yet she wasn't. I also knew that Eddie and Rose were strictly friends, they were more like brother and sister than lovers, but I still couldn't help the envy that flared up in me. I stared at the phone, wondering if Rose would murder me if she caught me reading her messages. Curiosity soon got the better of me and I walked up to the bedside table, picking up the phone and clicking the open button.

_Where are you, Rose? Stan's flipping out, he's saying that you shouldn't be a guardian and that you don't take it seriously enough—you know... the usual. Hurry up!_

My whole body slumped in relief; she was just late to class... but wait, where was she? I scanned the room and even checked the closet, but I just couldn't find her. Somebody knocked at the door and I whirled around, catching my reflection in the mirror. I gasped loudly and swore in Russian, forcing one foot to move in front of the other to look closer in the mirror. The knocks on the door were becoming more and more frantic.

I was no longer Dimitri, I was Rosemarie Hathaway and I was late for class.

I blinked a couple of times, trying to clear my head and look somewhat less startled. I didn't want to alert whoever was on the other side of that door after all. I threw open the door, figuring that was something that Rose would do when she just woke up, to reveal a guardian who was called Kevin. I'd worked with him a couple of times and thought that he was okay as far as people went, but that was before I saw his gaze flicker over my—Rose's—body. "Rose, you're late. You've got to come with me to Guardian Alto's class." He said almost robotically, hunger burning shamelessly in his dark eyes.

I looked down and realised that Rose had only dressed herself in black shorts and a red vest top to go to bed. "I'd like to get dressed please." I stated in a monotone voice, saying it as more of an order than a request. I slammed the door in his face angrily and leant against the solid wood, a primal growl building up in my throat. _How dare he look at my Roza in that way, she's only seventeen._ I strolled over to her wooden wardrobe and rolled my eyes at how hypocritical I sounded, I was twenty four after all.

I sighed as I browsed the articles of clothing that her closet held; they were all things that I was uncomfortable wearing. Crop tops, short skirts, dresses, shorts and figure hugging jeans. These were all of the things she used to wear before she ran away to Portland, now her more sensible clothes were—I assumed—in the wash after our trip to Court.

Then I spotted them and a sly grin crept up onto my face. It was an outfit that would most likely make Rose's lip curl when she saw it, it was everything she hated. Plain, boring and office like. I had to question why she even had it in the first place; it was something I knew she'd never pick herself regardless of how sensible she had become.

I pulled the blouse and pencil skirt out of the wardrobe, considering what I was going to do next. Being the gentleman I was, I closed my eyes tightly and began to get dressed. Rose would kill me if she found out that I was taking advantage of our... situation and I shuddered as I let my mind's imagination run wild, envisioning lots of different scenarios that didn't end up too well for me in the end.

Kevin's jaw dropped when I finally came out of Rose's dorm room, I guess I did look completely different. I was wearing a white button up blouse done up to the top and a dark grey pencil skirt that hit the knee. I shrugged at his stunned expression and walked ahead of him, chuckling darkly as a thought shot through my head. I figured that since I was stuck in Rose's body I might as well have some fun, as a payback of sorts. I shook my head from side to side in amusement as we neared Stan's classroom, her—my— eyes were going to pop out of their sockets when they got a load of this.

I burst into the classroom and had to bite my lip to keep from laughing outright as I watched all of the student's bored expressions morph into ones of bewilderment and shock. Rose—or me, I guess—gasped from where she was guarding the windows, her eyes bugging out of her sockets. I smirked smugly and decided to put the icing on the cake. "I'm so sorry, Guardian Alto. Please excuse my rudeness and well... being late." I apologized, trying my best to look and sound sincere.

Stan looked just as stunned as the students and could only nod in response, pointing to an empty desk near the back of the classroom. It was just my luck really; the desk was right next to where Rose was standing. I walked confidently to the desk, keeping my head high and ignoring my classmates' stares. Rose glared at me as I sank into my desk and leant forward slightly so that I would hear her over the chatter of the classroom.

"I am so going to kill you after class."


	3. Regrets

**Hi guys! Sorry for the shortness of this chapter and also how late the update is but at the moment I'm doing exams and stuff. I hope you enjoy this chapter though even if it is a filler. Oh and also sorry in advance if it's a bit confusing because even though Dimitri is in Rose's body I'm still calling him Dimitri if that makes sense? It's the same for Rose. Hope this clears it up a bit. **

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**CHAPTER THREE**

**"REGRETS"**

**RPOV**

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I grabbed onto Dmitri's arm, pulling him out of the classroom and away from the gawking pupils and guardians. My grip on his—my—arm tightened and I jerked him to a stop so that we were out of earshot distance from the on looking students, who might as well have been pressing their noses against the glass window in the door curiously as they stared at us in the hallway.

"What do you think you're doing?" I growled, leaning in so that we were face to face. We were close enough that I was intimidating Dimitri, or at least I hoped I was, but far enough away for anybody watching to not be suspicious of our relationship.

"What do you mean?" He said, batting his eyelashes to fake innocence. In my opinion he was laying it on _way_ too thick, it just made me even more incredulous.

"You know exactly what I mean Dimitri. Why are you dressed like that?" He started to open his mouth to say something but I held up my hand so that he'd shut up. "We are supposed to stay in character, Dimitri. I don't know what's happened to us or what this means but we have to stay in character so that people don't get suspicious. I even wore your leather duster; do you know how embarrassing that was for me?"

I pointed to my arm that his leather duster was slung over—okay, maybe I wasn't wearing it per se but it was still with me, which kept me in character so that nobody could grow suspicious or question my actions. "Now people in there are wondering whether Rose Hathaway has a fever or something because I sure as hell wouldn't wear something like that." I made a sweeping gesture at his choice in clothing; it was everything that I wasn't, boring, simple and plain.

Dimitri looked down at his feet ashamed at what he had done. "I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't think about it that way." He mumbled and I was surprised that he didn't come to that realisation before I did. He was usually the intelligent, controlled and together one in our relationship.

I shook my head at him in exasperation; nothing could really make this better because it was inevitable that my odd behaviour would be the subject of the school's gossip by second period. "Dimitri, when you came to St. Vladimir's didn't anybody tell you not to mess with a Hathaway?" I smirked at him menacingly before turning on my heels and heading back in to guard the classroom. "It's on." I mouthed at him over my shoulder and almost laughed at his blatant distress.

Dimitri stood motionless in the hallway; his face wore an expression of both shock and fear. I smiled at him smugly before turning around to face Stan. "I'm sorry for that Guardian Alto; I just needed a word with Rose." I apologised to Stan who just nodded in response, he was totally dumbfounded at Rose Hathaway's earlier behaviour. My lip curled up in disgust, I had been polite to _Stan_ of all people and it was because of Dimitri. I made my way to the back of the room, all the while planning out how I was going to get revenge on him. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up into a mischievous grin.

He was _so _going to regret the day that he ever tried to get one over on me.


	4. New Moon

**Hey guys, I'd like to thank you for all of the exam erm... 'good look'ings? Anyway, I'd also like to thank ItaSaku1 for giving me the idea for this chapter and also I think Jusa lilcrazE deserves a shout out for her review on the first chapter. You rebel you! :D**

** I hope you enjoy this chapter guys.**

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

**"NEW MOON"**

**RPOV**

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On the way to the guardian building I decided to slip into my old dorm room along the way to get something, this was going to be great and so much fun. I looked from left to right to make sure no one was watching as I slid into the room and walked up to the bookshelf, I wanted to get my own back on Dimitri but getting him sent to jail for being a 'cradle robber' may be going a bit far even for a Hathaway.

I know what you're all thinking, _Rose Hathaway reads?_ Well, the answer is no. I don't read books—unless those I care about are in danger—but when Lissa and I ran away to Portland some of her romance books ended up in my moving box and I never really bothered to return them. My eyes scanned all of the titles and then fell on the perfect book, _New Moon._

What better way of destroying Dimitri's machismo than reading a teenage love story.

I walked out of the room and towards the guardian building, where I knew Stan, Alberta and Yuri were all going to be, with the book tucked under his crappy leather duster. "Good morning all!" I yelled as I threw open the door, making it bang against the wall noisily. All of the guardians looked up in shock at my entrance; _yeah, this was going to be great._

I sauntered over to an empty chair that, luckily for me but not for Dimitri, was in the middle of the room and slumped down into it lazily. Alberta was watching my every move closely; I could tell that she knew something was wrong. I sighed loudly and pulled out my book, flipping it open to a random page near the front. Some of the guardians gasped in shock at the title.

"What have you got there then Belikov?" Stan asked curiously, he was one of the ones that couldn't see the front of the book. I raised New Moon slightly to confirm that he was talking about the book that was in my hands.

"What this?" I questioned and raised my eyebrow at him; _cool I could do that now._ Stan nodded his head slightly at me so I turned the book around so he could see the title. "New Moon, it's so fascinating. I read Twilight the other day and the romance between Bella and Edward is just... well, there are no words for it. The way he would just throw his life down for hers and vice versa..." I practically gushed, earning a few titters from the guardians dotted around the room. I sighed loudly as though I was in love with Edward.

I was ashamed to know it really, as a dhampir I didn't watch vampire films as a rule. They were inaccurate and mocked us really, although this one Lissa insisted on us watching because she had read the saga and as her best friend I couldn't say no to her. She didn't have the same qualms as I did about vampire related things.

Eventually everything died down and they all got down to business or making coffee, which did make me wonder what they did in their free time and also got me questioning whether I would become like this. I sure as hell hoped not.

I knew that they'd all be gone soon to guard classes and what not, so I'd be left on my own in a bit which made me realise that I had to think fast. Lissa had dragged me to see New Moon in the cinema while we were on the run so I knew that Edward left Bella somewhere in the story, I hadn't really paid attention to what and when things were happening though. I just hoped that no one here was a Twilight fan and knew exactly where in the book it was, as I was somewhat near the end of the novel since I kept flicking through the pages regularly.

I yawned and blinked a couple of times to make tears form in my eyes, and then I made a choked sound in the back of my throat. The eyes of the guardians once again landed on me in the middle of the room.

"Guardian Belikov?" Alberta asked timidly, but I could also see through my tear filled eyes that she was trying to stifle a laugh. I couldn't blame her really, because so was I.

"He... he left Bella. How could he do that Alberta?" I cried, making the choking sound again for added effect. "I—I've got to go, go do something. I won't be in class today."

The looks on everyone's faced were priceless as I burst out of the room, I had to cup my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing and I hoped desperately that it looked like I was just hysterical. When I was far enough away I collapsed into fits of laughter, Dimitri was now the least masculine male in St. Vladimir's and that was counting Christian.

"What are you laughing at Rose?" asked a voice that sounded vaguely like my own.

I glanced up and realised that was because it was me—or Dimitri I guess. "Oh, I'm sure that when you get your body back you'll know all about it Comrade." I chuckled again but it was almost menacing this time.

"What have you done?" He asked me nervously, he probably didn't want to know the answer.

"Oh, you'll see." I turned on my heels to walk away but then remembered something. "Here, can you take this back to my dorm room please?" I shoved the book at him and he barely even caught it.

Dimitri looked down at the book in his hands and gasped. "You didn't."

"What did I tell you Comrade, don't mess with Rose Hathaway." I replied, throwing my hands up in the air and striding away from him in what I hoped was a movie worthy exit.

It was then that Dimitri's phone beeped from the duster's pocket; it announced that he had an incoming text message. I admit, I did wonder why he had a cell phone in the first place after all I had always thought of him as some sort of anti-social god, so who would he be talking to anyway? I opened the text message curiously as it was off of a phone number that I vaguely recognised.

_Oh, it's on Roza. _

It was off of Dimitri.


	5. The Tag Along

**Sorry guys for being nearly a week, exams and stuff. *sigh* Anyway, Friday is my last exam before June so I promise after then to do updates more often and for them to be more interesting than this chapter. Also for the false alarm yesterday, I did put this chapter up earlier but after I read it through again it seemed almost robotic and I realised that I was tired when I wrote some of it. Better to wait a day then have it all sloppy, right? I mean it still is but it was hard to write this chapter because of how unexciting it is. :D**

**Also, if you'd like you can give me some suggestions for a few dares or truths, it would be greatly appreciated! **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter guys, sorry for the length and lack of content but I promise that a better, longer and more exciting chapter will be up Saturday time. Thanks for all the reviews, I love that I'm getting like ten a chapter so thanks a billion! :)**

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**CHAPTER FIVE**

**"THE TAG ALONG"**

**DPOV**

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I chuckled darkly to myself as I hit the send button, thankful that I took the time to remember my own cell phone number. The moon was shining high in the sky at St. Vladimir's which meant that it was early afternoon for the vampires. I watched in almost amusement as both dhampir and Moroi students milled around the campus, basking in the freedom they got because it was a Sunday. That meant that there was no school for the whole student body and also no field experience for the senior novices.

"Rose!" Someone called in a regal, but girlish voice. I turned around to face the source and wasn't at all surprised to see that it was Vasilisa, who was beaming at me in anticipation. "I've been looking all over for you, are you ready?"

I must have looked stunned while I replied to her, because her smile instantly drooped and her eyes lost some of her earlier excitement. "Am I ready for what?" I asked in interest.

"You forgot," she stated sadly and sighed, shaking her head from side to side.

I studied her intently for a few moments and concentrated hard on her face. I was unsure whether or not it would work but I focused on her thoughts and feelings anyway, hoping desperately that I would be able to open up the bond and be able to see what was wrong. It took a lot of work on my part as I had never done it before, but I soon felt something shift and I managed to break through.

_I can't believe that she forgot about the Truth or Dare game; we've been planning this for weeks. It was for her anyway, the whole thing was her idea._

I felt my lips quirk up into a small smile as I slapped my hand against my forehead in an elaborate performance of idiocy. "Oh right, I remember now. The Truth or Dare game, of course I'm ready for it." I replied happily, taking her hand in mine and pulling her to the Moroi dorm as if I couldn't wait for the game to start. It was a Rose thing to do, to act without thinking and I felt through the bond that Lissa saw nothing out of the ordinary. I was slowly getting better at this thing.

"Er—Rose?" The princess said, trying to plant her feet on the ground to stop me from dragging her all the way to the Moroi dorm rooms. It made me wonder what was the matter, but true to Rose's character I brushed it off.

"Yeah?" I responded, barely even looking at her over my shoulder in my haste.

"We were going to do this in your room, remember?"

I stopped abruptly and spun on my heels to start walking in the complete opposite direction to where I was going before. "I knew that," I tried to laugh it off, but failed. I could tell that Lissa was starting to recognise my odd and, let's face it, oblivious behaviour. She realised that something was up. I tugged her hand and began to lead her away in the direction of Rose's dorm room, where I knew that the whole 'gang' would be waiting.

Sure enough, there they all were. Christian, Eddie and Adrian were all standing by the door to Rose's dorm room, shifting their feet nervously from side to side. I wondered for a moment why they were anxious but soon found my answer when I walked further around the corner. Rose—or me, I guess—was standing a little ways away from the group, grinning from ear to ear as though it was the most hilarious thing to happen to her in a while. I knew from when I was in that body that my tall frame was sometimes considered threatening and imposing, I knew that people were sometimes nervous in my presence.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, shooting her a glare to show her just how unwelcome she was.

"I came across your friends here," she explained, pointing to the group of boys who were all huddled near the door. "They started to look frightened, which made me realise something was up. I knew that this was your dorm room, so I asked them what they were doing." Rose winked at me, letting me know that she knew all along. This was all just a part of her plan, there was no doubt about it.

"And...?" My hands made a rolling gesture to, hopefully, get her to answer me. The others just gaped at me in stunned silence as I disrespected the huge guardian who was stood in front of me. _How odd,_ I thought, _I always thought that Rose disrespected any teacher in her path. _I was surprised that this even came as a shock to them.

"Okay, okay. Patience Rose, it's a virtue." She held her hands out at me, a gesture which I met with, what I hoped was, a menacing glare. She rolled her eyes at my attempt at being threatening and carried on. "Anyway, they said that they were going to play Truth or Dare and that they were sorry for breaking school rules. That is, the students did... Mr. Ivashkov here just said that he was above the rules. That he was, and I quote, 'neither student nor teacher, just a free spirit wondering the campus as he pleases.' I told them that I wouldn't tell Kirova if they would let me play, so here I am to play your Truth or Dare game."

I was outraged, what was she planning to do now? Here was me, only just starting to orchestrate a revenge plan and she'd already thought of one. I was unsure of how exactly her criminal mind worked, but if I was honest I didn't really want to know how either.

Rose stared me down; challenging me to deny her the chance to play her long awaited Truth or Dare game. I ignored her and walked over to the door, fishing the key out of my front jean's pocket and unlocking the door. "Okay guys, you can go in but I need to talk to Dimitri out here." I said, motioning with my hand for them to go ahead and inside. "Make yourselves comfortable."

Rose chuckled almost menacingly when we were left alone in the hallway. "What are you up to?" I asked her, whirling around to look her in the eyes. However, I found that it was very tricky with the new height difference. How I missed being six foot seven.

"I don't want to miss this now, do I?" She replied, placing her hands on her hips and shooting me an angry look. "I've been planning this for ages, and now because of our... predicament... I'm not allowed to take part? I don't think so."

"Rose, I made a mistake before. You know... when I wasn't acting like you would, but I've changed my attitude. Can't you forgive me and just leave? You're potentially jeopardizing everything by being here."

She studied me levelly for a while; I could see her eyes scanning me and taking everything in. Was I serious? Did I mean it? I hoped that she would give up and leave, but was disappointed when she simply shrugged and pushed past me into the dorm room. My eyes followed her retreating figure as I sighed and shook my head in exasperation. Deep down I knew that it was hopeless to even argue with Roza, so I just gave up and went to join the others in a game of Truth or Dare.

I was getting way too old for this.


	6. Stanley, You Are So Manly

**Hi guys, thanks for all of the reviews because WOW, there was a lot for the last chapter! Thanks to Dimkaisshmexy24 for the website that you gave me, it's much appreciated and I'll be sure to use them. Also thanks for the ideas from VampireFreakxoxoxo and Melanie Forbes for your ideas, I'll include them very soon. As well as this I did indeed like your review clara wilson, so thank you for it. :D**

**Sorry for the small chapter that's kind of a filler, but I promise that the next chapter will be better. ;)**

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**CHAPTER SIX**

**"STANLEY, YOU ARE SO MANLY."**

**RPOV**

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The whole 'gang' was gathered in what I used to call my dorm room, we were all sitting in a large circle, knees touching knees and elbows having to be securely tucked in.

Everybody was bickering about who was going to start off the game of Truth or Dare, even Dimitri who, true to his word, was trying to act as much like Rose Hathaway as he could. "Okay, Okay." Adrian cried out, flinging out his arms dramatically to make everyone stop talking and almost hitting Sparky in the face, much to my amusement. "Dimitri, how about you start since you're the only one not making a big deal out of this."

I replaced my amused grin almost immediately and turned to see Adrian smirking at me almost coldly, obviously thinking I would not be able to think of a good truth or dare. His smirk was also laced with the rivalry that seemed to be going on between him and Dimitri, over me of all people. I thought that it was pointless, I had told Adrian again and again that I had absolutely no interest in being his girlfriend and never will have any, he was just completely wasting his time.

"Okay," I said innocently, trying to make everybody here think that since I was a teacher they had absolutely nothing to fear. This earned a glance from Dimitri since nobody here apart from me and him knew that I was actually Rose. They didn't actually know that if anybody made the mistake of picking a dare that I could make them weep at the absurdness of it.

I swept my eyes around the circle, searching for my victim and hoping fervently that they'd pick a dare. "I pick Christian," I announced and grinned evilly, this was all a part of my plan. Christian was sure to pick 'Rose' after this since he enjoyed watching me make an idiot out of myself. However, it will be Dimitri who will have to do this dare or truth, and I must admit I took pleasure in watching Sparky squirm. Or, well, when he squirms, since he was being too cocky at the moment and didn't think that Dimitri would be too hard on him. "Truth or Dare?"

Christian's mouth twisted up into a wide smirk, obviously not thinking much about the consequences of his answer. "I choose dare."

Directly opposite me I saw Dimitri bury his face in his hands, either because of Sparky's stupidity or his own embarrassment, although I wasn't quite sure. It was his fault that I was doing this anyway, if he hadn't have tried to play a joke on me in the first place then I wouldn't have had to do this.

I drummed my fingers against my chin to give the impression that I was deep in thought, in reality I already knew what I was going to dare him to do and it was beyond _c__ruel_, even for me. "Christian, I dare you to head over to Stan Alto's room…" Dimitri's head snapped up and he shot me a glare, this was obviously bad territory in his eyes. "…and profess your undying love for him, then you have to try and seduce him."

Everybody's eyes grew wide with surprise, they would never have thought that _Dimitri_ of all people would have dared him to do such a thing. They expected that from Rose, but not a highly respected guardian. Sparky squirmed, just like I had planned, from where he was sitting and gulped nervously.

"Are you being serious, Guardian Belikov?" He asked, trying to butter me up by using my title.

"One hundred percent serious, Lord Ozera. Are you bowing out for this one?" I replied, inwardly smirking smugly at his hesitation, but outwardly just looking calm with Dimitri's trusty guardian expression in place.

Christian glanced down at his clasped hands, deliberating for a moment what he was going to do. His confidence grew however, and surprisingly he accepted the dare. "Of course I'll do it." He said determinedly, springing up from his position on the floor and walking out of the door to perform his dare.

The rest of us all scampered to our feet in pursuit of Christian, and followed him across campus to the guardian building. "Good luck, Chrissie." Adrian called as we watched his figure enter the building, we'd been so sure that he hadn't heard him, that was until we saw Sparky flip Adrian the bird just before the door swung shut.

"My, oh, my." Adrian whistled, turning around and settling his gaze on me. "Well, I didn't think you had it in you, Belikov. I was truly mistaken."

"Well—" I began, but was cut off by him once more.

"In fact, I was sure that you didn't have it in you."

Lissa, who was sensing the tension between us both, turned towards me almost inquisitively. It surprised me, because Lissa was usually quite withdrawn towards Dimitri, she usually seemed very shy around him. "So, Dimitri. I've heard around campus that you've read Twilight, is it true?" She asked in interest, not saying it in a malicious or insulting way, she actually thought that nothing was out of the ordinary for Dimitri to read a teenage love story.

However, this wasn't how the 'gang' took it, Eddie burst out laughing at once, followed shortly by Adrian, as for Dimitri… well, Dimitri just looked mortified.

I smirked at him briefly before meeting Lissa's eyes. "Yes, yes I have actually." I replied with conviction, causing Adrian to practically fall to the ground in laughter.

"What was your favourite part?" She continued, probing him for answers. "That's… if you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all, princess. My favourite part was that New Moon brings out so many emotions. It brings out grief, joy, that exuberant passion. So many emotions in just one book."

Lissa nodded along to all of this, and I was proud of myself for actually thinking that up on the spot. I had never read the books and just kind of hoped that New Moon bought out those emotions, it seemed that it did.

Just as she was about to attack me with another round of questions, Christian ran out of the guardian building, waving his hands frantically in the air as some kind of signal. "He's coming!" He shouted to us, looking fearful of something… or someone. "Stan's coming!"

Those were the words that got us running, we sprinted across campus in the hopes of Stan not finding us and interrupting our game. Or, at least, that was what I was running for. The others were probably running out of fear for their lives. Eventually though, we made it to my old dorm room and sunk back to the floor and into our large circle.

Christian was pale, even for him, having seen and experienced much more than he wanted to of Stan. "So," I spoke up in the awkward silence, letting the 'so' drag on for a long time. All of the heads snapped up to meet my eyes. "How'd it go?"

"It was awful." Sparky began, almost making me snigger on the spot however, being the guardian that I was supposed to be, I tried my best to appear sensitive. "I told Stan that I, and I quote, 'loved him more than my whole life.' He started to threaten me, so I took that as my cue to try and seduce him. It was too embarrassing, and he wasn't amused…_ at all. _Stan fought me off and told me that he knew it was a dare, and that if I didn't get out of here right now he'd find out who was responsible for it and make both me and whoever was responsible _pay. _That's when he chased me."

"What did you call him? You know, when seducing him." Lissa asked in her innocent way, and I knew that had anyone else in the room asked, Christian would have probably set them on fire. However, since it was only Lissa he simply answered her, trying his best not to blush a bright crimson but failing at that miserably.

"I said to him, 'Stanley, you are so manly.'" He mumbled, looking down at his lap in mortification.

The room errupted in hysterics, even Dimitri was in fits of laughter. Though, he did try and mask it. It was Adrian who spoke up first, he always had loved any opportunity to mock Christian. He was kind of like me in that way, I guess.

"Really, Christian?" He asked in disbelief, it was true that I couldn't believe he'd said it either, Christian, who was usually so quick and witty.

"I paniced okay?"

"Sorry," I apologised insincerely, which was unbeknownst to him. "Anyway, you can make someone suffer now because it's your turn."

"Right," he agreed looking more in high spirits at the mention of payback. He looked around the circle, pretending to choose someone at random, but we all knew that he had decided who he was going to pick long before the game had even started. "I pick Rosie."

Just as I had planned. "Might I suggest something, Christian?"


	7. The Chat

**So sorry for the late update and everything, but here you go. Although, nothing much happens in this chapter but the next will hopefully be better! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the more... serious turn in events that happen in this chapter. Although, I'm not entirely happy about how this has turned out. Oh well, hope you like it anyway!**

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**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**"THE CHAT"**

**DPOV**

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"Might I suggest something, Christian?"

Those were the words that made my heart drop, sink almost to my feet. I was so screwed, because whatever she had planned would surely be almost torturous, and not to sound too dramatic, but I was without a doubt going to die from humiliation.

"I don't really think that's such a good-" I began, trying my best to change Christian's mind.

"What do you have in mind, Belikov?" Christian Ozera asked, a cunning smile lifting up the corners of his mouth.

He, like always, was trying to mask his earlier mortification, despite the patches of crimson that stained his ghostly pale cheeks. Christian, also known as Lord Ozera, flipped his pitch black fringe out of his eyes as he waited for Rose's, most likely, sly idea.

"I think that - you know, since our Rose here is so good and Truth or Dare and everything - she should do both a truth _and _a dare." Roza suggested, making my head snap up in shock. Everybody else in the dorm room were sitting in stunned silence, they all thought that once Dimitri Belikov joined the game he'd be the one to stop the party, not start it.

"What are you even planning?" I questioned curiously.

"Whatever do you mean, Rose?" She shot back, quite elaborately faking innocence.

I glanced around at everyone in the circle, suddenly not caring about keeping up our appearances anymore. Truly, I was becoming as reckless as Rose.

"You know _exactly _what I mean. Why are you doing this? Surely this will ruin your image and not mine." I spat out in a threatening tone, surprising almost everyone in the room. That is, apart from Adrian, but then again who could ever take Lord Ivashkov by surprise?

"Who says I want to keep my image in tact? Ever since I've come back to this school - hell, ever since I threw that book at my teacher in kindergarten - I've been labelled a rebel." She ranted, her eyes black with rage. I was surprised that steam wasn't shooting from her ears. "How about if I don't want that anymore? It's just given me a bad reputation, one that could stop me from guarding the one person I want the most. Besides, I like watching you squirm."

I glared down at the hands in my lap in shame, they were Rose's hands, not mine. Anything, and everything I do in her body could effectively ruin her future, and her future was the most precious thing to me, being her mentor and everything. Or at least, I told myself that was the only reason. I couldn't ruin that for her.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, my ears tinged with red from the regret that I was feeling.

"What the hell is going on here?" Eddie Castile spoke up, the first one to do so in a long time. It was then that I realised what Rose and I had just done. They must of either thought that there was something wrong with us or that we were just completely bonkers, and I wasn't really sure which one they'd chosen to believe.

_Think, Dimitri, Think._ _What would Rose do at a time like this, which could potentially cover this whole thing up? _

"Ha!" I exclaimed, pointing directly at a perplexed Eddie. "You all totally bought it. I told you, Comrade. Didn't I tell you?"

Roza, trying her best to cover up her utter confusion, nodded at me. "That you did, Rose. I didn't believe it would work." She replied, but then put on, what could only be called, a strict guardian face. "Okay, you lot. The fun is over now, you all need to get back to your respective dorm rooms. I've been quite lenient today with the rules, but if I catch any of you doing this again I'll have no choice but to report you to Headmistress Kirova."

The other's expressions soon sobered up, however Christian continued to grumble at being the only one who had to do a dare. Rose shot me a look, a look that said now was my cue to say something. _What was it that Roza always called Christian. There was a lot, but which one to use. Pyro? Fireboy? Sparky? _

"Shut it Sparky and get out of my dorm room, before I introduce your face to my fist." I threatened him, but playfully like Rose normally did.

The 'gang' all relaxed at hearing Rose's usual insults and filed out of the dorm room, all believing that they just had some weird, bizarre prank played on them.

"Well, that was a close one." I said with a huge sigh of relief, collapsing on the bed in the dorm room.

"Tell me about it," Rose replied and made a move to the door.

One look at my old face was enough for me. My face, usually quite young despite being half way through my twenties, had aged because of her grief. My eyes were wet with un-spilled tears, my smile weak and watery from her exhaustion. We'd both had enough of this.

"Maybe you should stay for a while, we really need to talk about this." I suggested, patting a space on the bed next to me.

Roza nodded weakly and joined me on the bed, finding it difficult with the new height to cross her legs. I offered her a sympathetic smile as she huffed and gave up trying.

"Look, we both don't really want this anymore and I don't know about you, but I've never really wanted this." I began, watching her closely as she nodded along with me. "I think we both should talk about… behaving correctly in these bodies?"

"Yeah," she agreed and looked down in embarrassment for a moment. "I'm sorry about that by the way."

"Apology accepted, that's all behind us now." I replied and placed a comforting hand on hers, which was slightly strange considering that she was actually me. "I know that it's bothering you, being a seventeen year old girl trapped in a twenty-four year old man's body, and I think that maybe we should make amends and work together to try to find a way out of this."

Rose slid her hand out from underneath mine and held it out as an offer, which I accepted. We both shook hands in amendment, grinning at one another widely, but still tiredly.

"You should get to bed, you look absolutely exhausted." I suggested, gesturing with my hand to the door.

"Yeah, I know. You do too, it's been a long day. I guess we'll talk about this later, right?" She asked, but got off the bed anyway and headed towards the door.

"Yeah," I sighed sleepily, not even managing to keep my heavy eyes open to watch her leave, before I fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

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**Don't fear guys, it won't be all seriousness from now on. They may get into just a spot of 'unintentional' trouble, but only a 'couple' of times. ^^ **


	8. Yuri

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been over a week again, but thank you for all of your reviews. They were great, so thanks. **

**I hope that you are not disappointed with the size of this chapter, because I will update this again tomorrow hopefully as I have finished all of my exams and have no homework tomorrow. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this anyway, although it is a bit of a filler for the next chapter I have planned.**

**See you tomorrow!**

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**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**"YURI"**

**RPOV**

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Yuri slapped me on the back roughly, causing me to stumble backwards in surprise.

We had both been sitting in the guardian's headquarters, awaiting our schedules for the long day of work ahead of us, when he spotted me. He had sauntered over to me, a huge, smug grin plastered on his face. Even though I knew that he was heading over, I didn't expect him to be so forceful.

"Hey, Belikov." He greeted, smiling in satisfaction at being able to surprise the rock that was Dimitri. "I heard that you've been acting strangely recently, is there anything you'd like to talk to me about?"

I looked at him in disbelief, everybody had been giving me odd looks, however nobody had been this bold. In fact, apart from the few slip ups, I thought that I had been doing an alright job at pretending to be my stoic mentor.

"I don't know what you mean." I replied flippantly, hoping that he'd just leave me alone.

Yuri watched as I stood up from my chair, wanting nothing more than to leave the headquarters and return _after_ he had left. However, just as I pivoted on my heels to exit the room, his hand shot out and caught my shoulder forcefully. Yuri span me around to face him as he finished what he was trying to say.

"I think you know exactly what I mean, Dimitri. I mean look at you. Recently, you were caught reading and _crying_ at Twilight, which is a teenage girl's book for crying out loud. Hell, the other day, out of the blue, you just started to read a girl's fashion magazine right in the middle of the staff room." He laughed outright at how bizarre it all was. "You were even _oohing_ and _aahing."_

"What are you insinuating, exactly?" I asked incredulously, was this guy serious?

"Come on, we all know here that you don't want a relationship. We were all wondering why you declined Tasha's offer, we all just thought that you were absolutely crazy."

My eyes darkened with rage at the mention of Tasha, _god _she annoyed the hell out of me when she was here. Although I did say to Dimitri that he should go with her, and meant it may I add, that didn't mean that I had to _like_ her.

"I refused Tasha's offer because I love somebody else, not because I'm crazy." I announced, but realised too late that that just bought up even more questions.

Alberta, who had entered the room at the wrong time, met my eyes with a knowing look. One that frightened me, one that shocked me.

"Oh and who might that be?" Yuri goaded me and shoved my shoulder teasingly. "Come on, Belikov. Do tell us."

"Enough!" Alberta ordered, crossing her arms to show her sincerity. "Dimitri, come to my office."

I shot one final glare at Yuri before following Alberta into her small office in the guardian's headquarters, hoping fervently that she hadn't called me in to scold me. Alberta sat herself down into her chair behind the desk and crossed her arms on top of the table. Her eyes, which screamed that she had seen too much, and her greying hair told me just how wise she was, and I knew in that moment that I could truly trust her with anything.

"Have a seat," she said and gestured to one of the plastic chairs in front of her desk.

They seemed uncomfortable and I realised that I was indeed correct as I sat down onto the cold, hard plastic that was her office chair. The surrounding walls were wooden panelled and she had floorboards that matched, which personally was not to my taste. The only other furniture in the room, apart from the wooden desk and the three chairs, was a big potted plant that stood in one of the far corners. Alberta's whole office screamed simplicity, but then again us guardians were not known for being elaborate.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Guardian Petrov?" I asked in an over-exaggerated performance of politeness.

"Rosemarie Hathaway." She stated simply, making my heart skip a beat.

"What do you want to talk about my student for?" I said, trying my best to keep my cool. However, I think that it was safe to say, I failed miserably.

Alberta drummed her fingers against the wooden surface of her desk, which only made me grow even more impatient. She glanced up at me with a funny expression on her face, an expression that spoke legions. I was not called into her office to discuss my schedule like I'd hoped.

"Look, I don't know what you called me in here for, but Rose and I-" I began but was soon interrupted by a furious Alberta.

"Dimitri, you and I both know that you feel something for Rose Hathaway. _Your student." _She exclaimed and slammed her hands flat on the table. "So let's cut the crap and get on with it."

I stared at her in both awe and terror. Being a student, I had never seen Alberta this way, but I had to admit that I respected her so much more now.

"I don't know what to say." I replied, completely shocked into silence. Alberta _knew._

"You must know that this is wrong." She said and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "How do you explain yourself?"

I floundered around for an answer, however came up empty. _What would he say in this situation? Dimitri always has an answer._

"How about if I go and excuse Rose from her class and we can all discuss this together?" I suggested, crossing my fingers behind my back in hope.

Alberta seemed to be deep in thought for a moment as she pondered my request. I desperately hoped that she'd approve of my suggestion; it would be great if I had Dimitri for support in this situation.

"Go and get Rose, you have five minutes."


	9. Confessions

**Sorry, it has been longer than I planned, although not a week luckily. So, here it is and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for all of your reviews guys, they were all great. I appreciate them because they are what help me to write all of the time. Unfortunately, I do not give out my facebook, so sorry for that. Erm, what else was there? Oh, if you read The Unexpected the sequel should be up soon, maybe later today if you're lucky. Hope you enjoy!**

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**CHAPTER NINE**

**"CONFESSIONS"  
**

**RPOV**

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Naturally, it had to be Stan-the-man's class that I interrupted to spring Dimitri. The other classes would have just been too easy, and luck just wasn't on our side today. Of course, Alto was disgruntled to say the least when I dragged his 'favourite pupil' out of his lecture. I could still hear his whining from halfway down the corridor as I walked beside Dimitri, our arms almost brushing.

"…and then basically, she just came out with it. She sounded so mad and demanded answers." I said, finishing off re-telling him the whole story.

"But, you didn't right? Give her answers, I mean?" He asked anxiously, obviously because of his job.

"No, I suggested that it'd be good if you were there for that."

A look of relief instantly flashed across Dimitri's features, and I couldn't blame him. Rose Hathaway wasn't exactly well known for her restraint and subtlety. However, it would have been nice for him to have a little faith in me.

"Anyway," I warned as we neared the guardian's headquarters. "You have to be careful around her, act as though you are still me, but don't mouth off to her that much."

Dimitri shot me a look of almost disgust before speeding up slightly, making me have to increase my pace to catch up with him.

"What?" I asked, curious as to what had offended him.

"It's just, I can't believe you do that to Alberta too, she practically helped raise you in the academy." Dimitri shrugged.

"Like I said, I'm less mouthy with her and unless you're Lissa or, well, you then nobody's ever going to get better than that."

Dimitri smirked slightly in amusement, but then quickly erased it from his face, remembering that he was still slightly mad at me. Then the dreaded moment came, the headquarters were right in front of us and we could do nothing but stare the building down. When we entered those doors, there was no turning back. Alberta would know our secret and possibly alert the authorities, and who knew what came after that. Dimitri's arrest? My expulsion? Our guardian titles being stripped? Who knew.

"We should just go in, if we stand here thinking about it all day we'll never make it past those doors." Dimitri suggested and placed his hand on the doorknob.

My mentor glanced at me for approval, and all it took was one nod for him to swing the doors open as though he owned the place. The wooden doors banged deafeningly against the walls as Dimitri strode confidently, and terrifyingly, into the headquarters, causing guardians to gawk at us in amazement. Yeah, I guess Dimitri did just make me look like even more of a badass.

Alberta Petrov was still seated behind her desk as though she hadn't moved since I was gone, which was highly likely. Her eyes stabbed me like daggers, however when they turned on Dimitri, they softened significantly. I was stunned, because, as a rule, all the figures of authority generally didn't like me.

"Rose, Guardian Belikov, take a seat for me." She said calmly, motioning at the uncomfortable chairs in front of her desk.

Dimitri didn't even flinch as he sat down in one of the chairs, even though Alberta's levelled gaze was following him everywhere he went. I on the other hand, could not cope under her gaze. Although, that kind of fit, considering I was the one who would have done something wrong in the student-teacher relationship. Or, well, Dimitri was.

"Okay, I'm not going to beat around the bush." Alberta announced, resting her two hands on the wooden desk in front of her. "I know that there's something going on with you two, and I want you to know that I don't approve."

"I don't know what you mean, Guardian Petrov." Dimitri insisted, but glared down at his clasped hands anyway in shame.

"You know exactly what I mean, Rose. You and your mentor's relationship isn't just one of a student-teacher. I've been seeing it recently, and I don't realise how others haven't."

I stared at Alberta with, what I hoped was, Dimitri's guardian mask. However, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him shoot me a look that just screamed '_nice try'_.

"Where is this going exactly, Guardian Petrov? I don't really know what to say, and you're just glaring at us." I asked rudely, which, I admit, wasn't very Dimitri-like.

"I-I just want to…" Alberta stuttered, but then reached up and pinched her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "Spare me all of the details, but why exactly are you doing this? Dimitri, you could lose your job. Rose, you could lose Lissa. Don't you both see this? Surely you don't love each other?"

Dimitri glanced up at her for a moment, but soon turned to gaze into my eyes. It was as though he was staring straight through my soul as he confidently worded his answer to Alberta, but mostly to me.

"Dimitri loves me, Alberta." He decreed surely, breaking his eyes away from mine and turning them onto Alberta. "I'm sure of that."

It became hard for me to breathe at his confession, to me, it was beautiful. Even after living my life and being in my body for the past few days, he still harboured those feelings for me. Feelings that I didn't even know existed. However, it seemed that Alberta didn't see it as something beautiful, quite the opposite.

Alberta's mouth twitched up into an almost venomous smile as she stood up from her desk chair and leant over the desk to get as close to my face as possible.

"This is not acceptable!" She screeched vociferously. "Guardian Belikov, how could you even do that to a seventeen year old child? It's wrong and I should have you fired for this, I should let the authorities know. In fact, I'm going to. I'm sorry, Belikov. You were a great guardian, but it's the law."

Alberta reached out for the telephone that was perched on her desk.

"No!" Dimitri roared, sounding more like himself, even though he was in my body. "You can't make her go."

Dimitri slammed the phone back into it's holder, making a stunned Alberta return to her wooden desk chair almost cautiously. _Man, he was making me appear to be even more of a badass today. _

"Rose, you said _she._" Alberta finally spoke up, after a long moment of stunned silence. "_She._"

"Alberta," Dimitri sighed and looked over at me questioningly. "Rose, should we tell her?"

Guardian Petrov slammed her hands on the desk frighteningly, she was taking no crap and what we were saying was just distracting her from the problem that she wanted to face.

"Enough," She ordered. "I'm calling for Headmistress Kirova, she'll love to hear about this."

Dimitri, being in my body, had no control of his thoughts and feelings. He was becoming as rash and reckless as I. That, when it came down to it, was what made him leap across the table and practically tackle Alberta to the floor. At first, I was impressed that he could do that to her, especially in my body. Then, I realised what he was doing and in _my _body. I was going to get into so much trouble.

"Dimitri," I all but pleaded, however, to my annoyance, he completely ignored me. "Dimitri!"

"Alberta, you can't send Dimitri away." He insisted as he pinned her to the floor. "You can't send her away."

"Rose, don't you see?" Alberta asked gently, which surprised me. "I need to do this, it'll be better for you in the long run too."

"Alberta, I'm not Rose!" He practically bellowed. "I'm Dimitri, which is why you can't send _her away." _


	10. Dimitri Stinks

**Sorry for taking a bit longer than I wanted to, but for once I'm not overly tired so you might get the third book in the trilogy of my 'YBTDOM' series today or tomorrow. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's something lighter to ease the slight tension of the previous chapters. Thanks for your awesome reviews. Enjoy!**

* * *

**CHAPTER TEN**

**"DIMITRI STINKS"**

**DPOV**

* * *

"This doesn't mean I approve of you two." Alberta huffed from where she sat on the other side of the wooden desk, which she was not at all used to. I had successfully taken over Alberta's usual seat and Rose stood next to me with her arms crossed in a stoic manner.

It seemed that Rose and I were starting to take on each others traits. I was becoming as reckless as Rose, which meant that I needed to get out of her body. _Promptly._ Preferably before her behaviour rubs off on me, nobody needs a hormonal teenage guardian running about St. Vladimir's.

"Alberta," Roza began, breaking the long silence that seemed to stretch out before us. "You need to understand that nobody can know about this, if anybody knew they'd make me leave. They wouldn't believe that I was actually Rose."

"Rose-Dimitri-whoever," Alberta stumbled, confused as to who she was speaking with. "I can't not say anything. That would get me into trouble."

This time nobody did anything to ease the tension in the room, it was palpable in the air around us as we stared at nothing in particular. Suddenly Alberta's head shot up, her eyes, which were black with rage, met mine instantly.

"How do you two get dressed in the morning?" She spat out angrily, her eyes practically piercing my soul.

"I close my eyes," I assured her at the same time that Rose piped up.

"What am I supposed to do, close my eyes?" Rose shot back sarcastically.

We had both said it in unison, causing an almost comical scene to play out before Alberta's eyes. Even Guardian Petrov, a stoic warrior not unlike myself, couldn't contain the amused smile that was playing around her formerly tight lips.

"You look at my body?" I asked her, jokingly aghast.

"What are you going to do about it, Comrade?" Roza questioned and placed her hands on her hips.

I shot her an indulgent and affectionate grin as I stood up from Alberta's office chair. However, the expression on the woman in question's face soon sobered me up. She seemed deep in thought, her arms were crossed on the desk in front of her and her eyes seemed to gaze at nothing, but everything all at once.

"Alright," She said suddenly. "I'll keep your relationship secret, but one little slip-up, one little moment that makes me think that your intentions are anything but honourable Belikov, and you're out."

"Understood, thank you." I nodded in appreciation and dismissed myself, holding the door open for Roza, who had followed me out.

Roza shuffled past my outstretched arm gracelessly, obviously not used to being in such a tall body. However, suddenly she stiffened and wrinkled her nose up in disgust.

"Gees Dimitri, have you even taken a shower since we've switched lives?" She asked, waving her hand theatrically in front of her nose. "I don't really want to become known for having poor hygiene."

"I…" I began, but was soon interrupted by a large hand in front of my face.

"No, just go and take a shower, Comrade."

With that, Rose span on her heels and strode down the corridor, leaving me behind with a stunned expression on my face. It was true, I hadn't had a shower in days. It was _really _gross, but I hadn't figured it out yet. I guess there was no backing out now.

I headed over to the female dorm's bathroom, my hands clasped together in a nervous bundle. _How was I going to do this?_ _This was just wrong. I can't believe she's making me do this._ Millions of thoughts flitted through my mind as I reached the door and tested whether or not it was locked.

Luck was not on my side as the door creaked open, revealing a large bathtub with a showerhead. I flicked on the light to my left and approached the tub anxiously. _This is going to be horrible. _

With a flick of my wrist, hot water shot out of the shower head, reminding me of the awkwardness of the whole situation. Taking a deep breath through my mouth, I closed my eyes and peeled off my clothes, which left me to stand self-consciously in the middle of the bathroom.

My other senses, like my hearing and touch, guided me over to the tub where I hitched my leg over the side… and instantly fell.

"Ugh," I groaned as I tried to pick myself up from the bottom of the tub.

I, unfortunately, only succeeded in sliding further up to the top of the bath, which meant that the steaming hot water painfully sprayed in my already closed eyes. _You have got to be kidding me, _I thought to myself in disbelief. _This can only get better. _

"_Just go and take a shower, Comrade._" I mimicked Rose as I used the tiles to stand up, _finally. _

"Rose?" A voice called from behind the door, Meredith I thought. "Are you okay, Rose?"

I froze in my tracks, too stunned to even reply for a moment. _Was I really making that much noise? _

"I… erm." I said, not being able to form proper words. "I'm fine, thank you."

Meredith mumbled a few more illegible things from the other side of the door before I heard her walking away. Sighing in relief, I started to reach around blindly for the shampoo and conditioner. I refused to open my eyes, it was just the way that I was raised.

* * *

**RPOV**

* * *

I chuckled to myself as I stood in the shower, wondering how Dimitri was getting on with his. He was so gentlemanly, but that was both a blessing and a curse. I was sure that at that moment he was stumbling around the shower, trying to find the soap as he refused to open his eyes.

Shaking my head in amusement, I searched around for the shower gel and squirted some onto my hands. Dimitri's body was beautiful, his skin tone was even, his abs were perfectly chiselled, his biceps were not overly defined. I could not look away, but it wasn't like I would or even wanted to either.


	11. The Cabin

**I'm so sorry it's been ages! I've been so busy, but I've written an extra-long chapter for you anyway. I hope you enjoy this chapter, which makes this story link to Shadow Kiss more. It's a bit more dramatic than my other chapters so sorry about that. Anyway. Enjoy and review if you'd like. Oh, and thanks for the reviews! They are fantabulous. **

* * *

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

**"THE CABIN"  
**

**RPOV**

* * *

"Yeah, Rose Hathaway just attacked Jesse Zeklos."

My head snapped up to attention, having been otherwise preoccupied with a magazine. I placed two large fingers in between the pages of my magazine, my fingers acting as a sort of bookmark. The two gossiping guardians were chatting like best friends, but surprisingly they were polar opposites. One had a shaved head and was heavily built, he just screamed menacing. However, his friend was as scrawny as guardians come and had a shock of sandy blonde hair. He looked as though the wind could blow him over and I didn't doubt that it did.

"I don't blame her though. I just heard that he was setting up a sort of gang that uses compulsion. You know, in the woods, over by that old cabin." The scrawny guardian replied, nodding as he did.

"So?" Shaved head asked.

"Well, I heard that the gang was torturing Princess Vasilisa to get her to use compulsion too. That's why all of those Moroi kids kept on getting bruises."

My chair skidded across the floor as I jumped up in shock. The two guardians stared at me in stunned silence as I glared at them in return. My eyes were most-likely black with rage as I proceeded towards the two men until I was almost in their faces.

"I'm the Princess' guardian, why did nobody inform me about this?" I demanded, practically spitting with fury.

"I- I…" Scrawny stuttered, however I was already out of the guardian building and sprinting towards the woods before he could finish.

The trees were a blur as I ran through the woods surrounding the academy as though my life depended on it. For once in my life I was glad that I was in Dimitri's body, his long legs were an advantage as I jumped over the roots of trees and the brooks that wound through the woods.

I burst into the clearing just as a battered and bruised Jesse Zeklos was being carried out on a stretcher of sorts. Surveying my surroundings, I realised that Lissa was leaning on Yuri for support as she was led out of the clearing and Dimitri was being held back by Eddie of all people. If only he knew.

All of the remaining heads shot up to look at me as I loudly cleared my throat. I stared at Alberta angrily as I made my way towards Dimitri.

"Why did nobody inform me of this? I know how to handle Rose and the Princess is my watch." I asked.

"I thought it was best, given the circumstances." Alberta replied levelly, but then turned her gaze to Eddie. "Eddie, give her to Dimitri and he'll take care of her. You can go now."

Dimitri thrashed around in Eddie's arms as he handed him to me. I watched as Eddie retreated back to the academy, leaving only me, Alberta and Dimitri in the clearing. I didn't want anybody to overhear.

"I'm going to take him to the cabin, but I want to know something." I began. "Why didn't you tell me, I know about Spirit's darkness from first-hand experience. I could've helped. Dimitri wouldn't be like this if it wasn't darkness."

"I didn't think it was darkness, how could it be? That's in your head and Dimitri isn't the one with a bond to Vasilisa... are you telling me that you haven't been _hearing_ the Princess anymore?" She replied, although I knew that she didn't want an answer by the way she continued. "Besides, even though you're in Dimitri's body you are still a novice, therefore I have no obligations to include you. Now, go and take him to the cabin."

I nodded solemnly, figuring that it was no use pointing out that Eddie had helped out, and decided to just throw the writhing Dimitri over my shoulder. Seeing as I was in his strong, muscular body and he was in my lighter, more feminine one it was actually very easy. Leaping over the tree roots and brooks, I headed over to the small cabin that was once used as a guardian watch-post.

Dimitri seemed seriously insane when I placed him down on the edge of the bed in the cabin. His, or my, eyes were darting around everywhere, searching for an escape I presumed. It seemed as though I was right as he tried to dart past me to the front door, however I was quick to catch him and imprisoned him on a nearby wooden chair.

"Okay, Dimitri. Snap out of it." I ordered, but was met with only a creepy, spine-tingling smile.

"I'm going to _kill _Jesse Zeklos. Please, Rose. You hate him too." He almost pleaded.

It distressed me to see Dimitri like this, he so fiercely believed in protecting Moroi and would never, _ever_ think of harming one.

"Okay, Dimitri. We can go and get him if you do something for me." I said, hoping fervently that my plan would work. "You need to breath deeply in and out, just calm yourself down for a second. Think about your family in Russia, we could go and see them… or you could… when we get our own bodies back."

The rage in Dimitri's eyes started to weaken upon thinking about his family and his home town of Baia. In fact, he seemed to calm down almost completely, with only a hint of his former anger left behind in his features.

"Are you calmer now?" I asked gently and placed my hand on his arm.

"Yes," he replied and stared at the floor in shame.

I didn't ever want to feel pity towards Dimitri, but I did in this moment. It was his first experience of darkness, and it had been my worst bout ever. He was ashamed of himself and I wasn't sure how long it would take until that would disappear.

"Dimitri, tell me something." I began lightly and crouched down in front of him. "How is it that you have started to feel darkness?"

"The bond, it's starting to form in my mind." He replied and held his head. "I don't understand how you put up with it, it's all too confusing… and rather disgusting."

I had to laugh at Dimitri's expression as he finished off his sentence. His lips were turned down into a scowl that was almost comical. His eyes seemed distant for a moment, that is before he snapped back to the present and shuddered with revulsion. He really was disgusted.

"I take it you caught Lissa and Sparky in a… compromising moment. Let me guess, they disturbed you as you were asleep."

Dimitri only nodded as his answer, not wanting to relive it again. I couldn't blame him.

"They think they're being so clever going to their love nest at night. In reality they should be going while I'm awake, I have a better hold of my defences then. It's not like I want to see Sparky…" I trailed off upon seeing Dimitri's face.

Dimitri looked nauseous as he relived being sucked into Lissa's head. I could only imagine what they'd been doing to make him like this. Tapping Dimitri on the shoulder, I offered him an apologetic grin as he resurfaced from his nightmarish flashback.

"Sorry about that, let's change the subject." I offered and smirked at his relieved nod. "What made the darkness come in the first place?"

"I'm not sure…" Dimitri hesitated.

"Come on, I can handle it. I already know that Lissa was tortured."

"Okay," he agreed and rearranged himself on the chair so that he was more comfortable. "The Princess was going to check out Jesse's 'gang' and I saw through the bond that they were torturing her like Victor did, you know with air and stuff. They were also using all of the other elements too, fire, earth and water, although not spirit _obviously_."

I must have seemed outraged because Dimitri soon reached over and squeezed my hand reassuringly. Lissa was okay, I had seen her in the clearing earlier. However, just because she was okay didn't mean that I was alright with it.

"Then I ran to the clearing to help her, but she was already possessed by Spirit's darkness. She was doing that thing, you know where you attack the person with compulsion and make them think that they're seeing their greatest fear?" I nodded so he continued. "Well, she was doing that. I managed to stop her, but her darkness transferred into me and I started to beat Jesse to a pulp."

Dimitri gulped in shame and glared down at his feet. What he did went against everything that he believed in, but I hoped that he would forgive himself sometime soon. It wasn't actually his fault after all.

I looked out of the window and saw that the sun had already set and the moon was up in the sky. It was time for us to head back to the academy and I just hoped that Dimitri would be able to keep it together until then. I hoped that he would be able to keep a hold of his new-found darkness.

"So," I said as we were strolling through the woods. "I trust that half way into the night you won't go searching for Jesse."

Dimitri didn't reply and I presumed that it was because he thought I was being my usual sarcastic and brash self. It wasn't a total leap to make.

"I mean I want to hurt him as much as the next person," I carried on. "However, try not to kill him Comrade."

When he still didn't reply I grew a little worried. I span around to face him and saw that he was clutching his stomach in, what only can be described as, confusion. Then, when he glanced up to meet my eyes, his lips formed a 'o' shape as he stared at something behind me.

"Mason," he mouthed and then after a few seconds spoke up louder. "What's the matter?"

I waited for a few moments in anticipation, and then he was a flurry of motion.

Dimitri paced back and forth as he scanned the area, his eyes flitting everywhere all at once. If I hadn't been so anxious, I probably would have thought it to be hilarious.

"He just told me that Strigoi are coming, is that why I'm nauseous?" He questioned, looking at me for an answer.

"I don't know, I haven't been around a Strigoi since Spokane. A lot of things to do with being shadow-kissed have developed since then." I replied, and then it seemed to hit me. "Wait, Strigoi are coming?"

"That's what Mason _said, _I thought you told me that he couldn't talk?"

"He couldn't talk when I was me," I responded. "Why aren't we going to the academy? We need to warn them."

Dimitri came to a sudden halt and gazed into my eyes for a while; it was as though he was searching for an answer from within my eyes. _Mason, _I realised. Dimitri was trying to see whether or not I truly trusted Mason's words. He seemed to find it and gave one, strong nod of approval.

"Okay, let's go before we run into one… or ten." He agreed and motioned for me to start running back to the academy.

It was at that moment that I chose to remember a conversation that Dimitri and I once had.

"_Suppose you manage to kidnap her and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi comes at you. What will you do?"_

"_Depends on what store we're in."_

I said many attack methods to kill a Strigoi, but still it came down to one thing: _"You run."_

And run we did, that is until we ran straight into a blantantly blood-thirsty Strigoi.

The Strigoi was as pale as the moon that hung above us. It's eyes were as red as the blood that it drank. The cold smirk that crept up it's lips sent shivers down my spine as it started to step towards us, overly cocky in it's leisurely speed. It was one of those Strigoi who liked to play with his food before he ate it, which was both a blessing and a curse.

I had no idea what to do as I fingered the cold, silver stake in the leather duster. We were running out of time, fast.

"Rose," Dimitri called, causing me to turn my head slightly in his direction.

Dimitri's eyes were trained on the Strigoi as he held his hand out upright as though he was asking for something. Although I suppose he was. Suddenly, I got it. Reaching into my leather duster, I pulled out the silver stake and placed it into Dimitri's waiting hands.

"You have to run, Roza." He said and glanced down at his body, sighing morosely. "I'll try to keep your body safe, but you have to warn the others. Don't worry about me, because I still have all my fighting skills in my head."

"Now go," He urged and leapt towards the unsuspecting Strigoi, who was actually expecting me to lash out at him.

Following Dimitri's orders, I ran towards the academy as though my life depended on it. Although, I suppose it did.


	12. The Attack

**Thank you for all of your reviews! Quick update for you guys as an apology for not being as quick the past few weeks. It's quite long too. :D**_  
_

**I hope you enjoy it and I promise Dimkaissmexy to do a few chapters after the swap. ;)**

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**CHAPTER TWELVE  
**

**"THE ATTACK"  
**

**RPOV**

* * *

_Following Dimitri's orders, I ran as though my life depended on it. Although, I suppose it did. _

"Strigoi are attacking the school!" I yelled as I entered the guardian's headquarters. "Dimitri's fighting them all off, we have to go now!"

I was met with only blinking, open-mouthed guardians who were just sitting on their plastic chairs, immobile. Then, I realised my mistake. No wonder they were all just staring at me in stunned silence, _I _was Dimitri now. I shook my head, this was no time for confusion, Dimitri was out there fighting god knows how many Strigoi on his _own._ He may have been christened a god, but even he wasn't invincible.

"Forget about that, I'm being serious. I saw it myself, Strigoi are on campus!" I practically screeched at them as I tried to think of what Dimitri had told me before, he told me to tell them a word… a Russian word. "Buria," I breathed. "Buria."

Suddenly everybody was active again as they flit from one corner of the room to another, getting themselves and each other organised. Alberta, being ready the quickest out of all the other guardians, patted my shoulder and whispered that she was going to go and help Dimitri out, before leaving.

Soon after, all of the other guardians filed out the room and one placed a glinting, severe-looking silver stake in my hands, obviously presuming that I'd help with attacking the Strigoi.

"I… I can't do this." I told Yuri. "I mean… I just can't."

Yuri looked at me with confusion, I guess that he couldn't believe that _Dimitri Belikov _was backing out of an attack. The man who was named a _god_ and a stoic _warrior._ He shook his head at me and curled my fingers around the silver stake that I held gingerly in my hands.

"You can do this. I don't know what's been wrong with you the past few weeks exactly, but I know that you can do this." He assured me and left, leaving me alone in the guardian building.

He didn't understand. I was in Dimitri's body, a body that I was totally unused to being in. I didn't understand how to defeat Strigoi in this body, I could barely even walk in a straight line without falling over. Dimitri had once been my height when he was younger, but me? I had never, _ever_ been his.

I had to make a decision. The academy needed me, because they were direly outnumbered. However, would I be more of a hindrance than an advantage? It was a chance that I had to take.

"I'm going to do this," I muttered to myself and marched towards the door, tripping over a chair as I went. I sighed and shook my head in exasperation. "I'll just stay out of everybody else's way."

I could hear the sounds of the attack as soon as I stepped out of the guardian's building. Grunts and blood-curdling screams were audible from even this far away, making me terrified to go any farther. _Stop it,_ I tried to calm myself. However, I was so nervous being in this body. My heart hammered deafeningly in my chest, but I didn't have any time to worry about my nerves, peoples lives were at stake. No pun intended.

Sprinting over to the elementary campus, I wasn't surprised when I ran into my first Strigoi. His eyes, like every other Strigoi on the planet, were cruel and reflecting the overpowering blood-thirst that was a constant in their 'lives'. Strolling leisurely towards me, his lips curved up into an almost sardonic smirk. The Strigoi was blatantly not afraid of me, although if I was being truly honest with myself, he had no reason to be.

I leapt towards him, hoping to get some kind of advantage, however I was clumsy and failed almost miserably in my attempt. Completely missing the Strigoi, I landed on the floor in a heap, cursing Dimitri's height. The Strigoi leant over me and extended his fangs as I was sprawled out on the floor. It was futile to even try and fight him off, however I did anyway.

The piercing fangs got closer and closer to my neck, in fact it wasn't until they pricked my skin that he eventually got off of me. Or rather, he was pushed off of me and then staked.

Dimitri stood before me, worry plastered all over his features as he held out his hand for me to take.

"You're making me seem like such a badass, and I totally love you for it." I told him, hoping to make a joke of the situation. It didn't work.

"Rose, you have to be careful. Why are you even fighting?" He asked, concerned for my safety.

I sighed and looked him calmly in the eye. "It's not like I can hide out and do nothing, what do you think they are going to let me stand back? I'm you in their eyes, not an inexperienced novice."

"Rose, you've never been an inexperienced novice. You have more experience than some guardians of twice your age." Dimitri put his hands on my shoulders, but then snorted.

Scanning me up and down, he pushed on my shoulders so that I sank to the floor and was forced to kneel on my knees. Dimitri nodded and grinned almost mockingly at me, forgetting momentarily that the academy was being attacked. He was just glad that we were both the same height again.

"That's better," he affirmed, seemingly pleased with himself. "Now, as I was saying." - He placed his hands on my shoulders and gazed levelly into my eyes. - "You have never been an inexperienced novice, and I believe that you can do this. Alberta, she was the only one who would let you off, and she-she was taken away."

"What!" I exclaimed, completely stunned.

"She was taken away, now listen to me carefully." He ordered with authority. "Rose, I mean it." He warned. "I'm going to help you, but you need to have more faith in yourself. If you were in this body, you'd be out there with all of them without a doubt. You're good, better than most of the guardians here, but you need to believe that you can handle it."

"I-"

"It's an uncomfortable situation, I agree, but guardians make the best of uncomfortable situations. We carry on."

I nodded at him, suddenly more confident after his pep talk of sorts. I could do this, I was a good fighter. Thanking Dimitri, I picked myself up from the floor and proceeded towards the attack, flinching no more at the sounds of the screams and the grunts. In fact, if anything, they only made me more determined.

* * *

"Ugh," I grunted as I pulled yet another dead Strigoi off of me.

"That's all of them," Dimitri observed, staring at me with pride filled eyes.

Never had I been more relieved than that moment, there had been losses - on both sides - but eventually we won, and the remaining Strigoi had fled to their hole… or, well, wherever they had come from. Teachers and students alike had been carried off by Strigoi as a snack of sorts, and unfortunately Alberta was one of them.

Yuri, the guardian who told me that I had to fight, walked over to us, shooting a strange look at Dimitri. Seeing as he was in a teenage girl's body, it was understandable considering how much damage he'd done to the Strigoi numbers.

"We're carrying out a raid tomorrow, to get as many of the captives back to the academy. Dimitri?" Yuri hinted, obviously wanting me to sign up for it.

"Yes, well I-" I began, searching for something to say. However, I was soon interrupted by the real Dimitri.

"Actually Yuri, can I trust you with something?" Dimitri asked, and continued when Yuri nodded with confusion. "He can't actually do the raid tomorrow, because Dimitri's actually a teenage girl."

I stared at Dimitri as though he was truly an idiot, and he finally realised what he had said. In trying to be vague with what he actually meant, he'd just set himself up for even more mocking and teasing from the other guardians. We were now right back to square one.

"I knew it!" Yuri exclaimed. "I knew it!"

Covering my eyes in embarrassment, I tugged Dimitri by the arm and led him to the novices dorm room. You could still hear Yuri's loud guffaws as we neared the building, and he was by the elementary campus, _on __the other side of the academy. _

"_Well done, Dimitri."_ I commended him sarcastically. "You just set yourself up for years of torture."

"At least it got you out of the raid." He reminded me almost angrily.

Dimitri started to enter the dorm building, slightly frustrated by my lack of gratefulness. I didn't feel grateful, not at all. I felt guilty. All of those people needed me to get them out of the Strigoi's hideout and I was being a coward. I sighed morosely, causing Dimitri to turn back around.

"You were great today," He offered, trying to cheer me up. "You made me proud."

"Then why am I not helping? Why can't I go on the raid?" I asked, my stomach knotting up with guilt.

My mentor seemed deep in thought for a while, thinking everything through diligently and calmly. Just like he always did, it was nice to have a little normality after the past few weeks. He took a step in my direction and rested a hand on my arm.

"Roza, sometimes…" He trailed off and stared down at his shoes as though they were the most interesting thing in the world. "I admire you, I really do. You are so unbelievably brave, but Roza, you cannot do this on your own. You are Dimitri Belikov to them and they'd make you a leader, you'd have to command people on what to do when you are in there. Are you ready for that, to have fifteen, twenty people's life in your hands?"

I shook my head no. "Comrade, what you do, how respected you are, it puts a strain on you. You are expected to please. I can tell that your life is hard. After living it for a couple of weeks I know that it is too. I just want to say that I'm sorry." I apologised.

"I'm sorry too, I know that you feel guilty about the raid. Believe me, I do too, but there's not much I can do." He confessed, seemingly regretful about that last part.

I span on my heels, hurt and confused, and began to walk in the direction of Dimitri's room, I knew that he was right, but I was still upset. Being left out of the action wasn't something that I took well, it saddened me, especially since Alberta was taken.

"Oh, and Rose?" Dimitri called, making me glance back over my shoulder.

Dimitri had his head poking out of the building's door and I could only imagine what the dorm matron was thinking. He had obviously come back from heading up to my room, which made me intrigued in what could be so important that he couldn't wait until tomorrow.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"The other reason I made Yuri not put you on the raid was because I don't want you to be hurt… as selfish as that sounds."He informed me and then stared down at the floor beneath him. "And your life... it isn't easy either. I'm sorry for ever doubting that."

Then I was left to stand there, freezing cold, in stunned silence as Dimitri disappeared from sight.

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**Hope you enjoyed and review if you'd like ^^**

**The next chapter will be a little shorter, because it's just a fun scene that I just had the idea to do randomly. I'd like to squeeze it in, who knows when I'll update that. Tonight? Tomorrow morning? O.o  
**


	13. Visitors and Phone Calls

**Neither it appears, tomorrow evening! So here it is anyway, like I promised and a little longer than I had anticipated. Just a little chapter featuring... well, you'll have to find out. Hope you enjoy and stuff. Thanks for the reviews also.  
**

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
**

**"VISITORS AND PHONE CALLS"  
**

**RPOV**

* * *

I was exhausted.

Practically falling onto the bed, I didn't bother taking off any articles of clothing, not even my shoes. Unfortunately though, I only had about one minute worth of blissful sleep before it rang. Dimitri's phone annoyingly blared out _'Video Killed the Radio Star'_ of all things, but then again I didn't really expect anything less from him.

My eyes shot open and I could only barely repress the urge to throw something at the wall. _Hard._ Had it not been Dimitri's room that I was in, I probably would've. Reaching into the leather duster's pocket, I pulled out Dimitri's cell and pressed it to my ear. In that moment, I learnt a lesson the hard way, you should always check the Caller ID, because I can tell you that the _last_ person I wanted to hear from at that moment was Tasha Ozera. And yet, I did anyway.

"_Dimka!" _She screeched into my ear, making me pull the phone away from my ear. _"Thank goodness you're alive, I just heard about the attack!" _

"Tasha?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes to get rid of the haziness of sleep. "Why are you even calling?"

"_I wanted to see if you were okay, Dimka. Did I interrupt you?" _She asked.

"Yes, actually. You did."

The line was quiet for a few moments, she was probably wondering why I was being so rude. However, I was too tired to try and maintain the façade. I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore. Selfish, I know.

"_Well, I'm sorry." _Tasha apologised, although she didn't sound very sincere. _"But, I have fantastic news. You know a few months ago, when we were considering having children?" _

"What!" I exclaimed, suddenly as awake as I would've been had it been morning. "We were never considering that. In fact, if I remember correctly, which I do, that was just a part of your offer for me to become your guardian, which I politely _declined._"

In reality, I didn't know if Dimitri was polite about it, but knowing him he probably was. However, I wasn't and like I said earlier, I just couldn't bring myself to care anymore. When Dimitri and I were talking about their relationship, he confessed to me that he would have eventually refused Tasha, because Dimitri didn't actually love her in that way, he loved her more like one would a sister, or a friend.

"_Right, well. I have more of an offer for you." _She began, not knowing that I didn't want to hear any of it. Or maybe she did, but just didn't care. _"I know that you said that you loved somebody else…"_

Dimitri had said that? Tuning out Tasha's babble, I thought about what Dimitri's true feelings were. Sure, he'd said that he cared about me, but he'd never said that he loved me before. He couldn't could he? Tasha was probably just twisting his words.

"…_So, I was thinking that maybe if you took a year out with me, you could see if your feelings are true." _She finished, satisfied with herself.

"What?" I said, snapping out of my reverie.

"_Well, you told me that you've only known her for a couple of months. Are you sure of your love for her?"_ She questioned. _"All I'm asking is that you take a year of guarding me and then if you like it you could stay and fulfil the rest of the offer."_

I shuddered, recalling the rest of her _offer._

_God, I couldn't wait to get my own body back_

"No Tasha, I'm afraid that I can't. I don't think I'd ever be able to have erm... intimate relations with you, or anybody really." I replied, trying to let her down as easily as I could manage, though something told me that I sucked at it. "I'm not really feeling myself at the moment either, so it's kind of a bad time."

_"You're not, why don't we take a rain check then?" _

Did she _really_ just say that?

"I don't know about that, Tasha. I really do love her." I said.

There was silence from the other end of the phone, until I heard her suck in a sharp breath. I could only imagine her biting her lip and nodding her head in defeat. It was most likely comical.

"_Can you do one thing for me then?" _She requested.

"What's that?"

"_Who is she exactly?"_

"Somebody very, very special to me."

I hung up the phone, rather rudely, and flung myself back down on the bed, wanting more than anything to scream into a pillow. Sure, a few thoughts about whether that was the right thing to do did flit briefly across my mind. However, I decided to just tell Dimitri about it in the morning. It wouldn't be so hard to fix it, even though I didn't particularly want it to be.

Closing my eyes shut, I fell into a deep, blissful sleep with no nightmares or dream walkers, thinking about one thing and one thing only: _Dimitri had said that he loved me. _

* * *

**DPOV**

* * *

I was just making my way up the stairs to Roza's room when I heard it, the sound of somebody clearing their throat, loudly. They obviously wanted to capture my attention, seeing as I was the only person who was still around. Unfortunately, they succeeded.

Spinning around, I literally came face to face with, of all people, Adrian Ivashkov. His breath smelt strongly of alcohol, making me wonder how he even managed to get it onto campus in the first place. Then again, _he was above the rules. _Adrian inched even closer to me through his drunken haze, causing me to wish that I wasn't trapped against a wall.

"Hey, little dhampir." He breathed, causing his… _odour_ to wash over me. "How are you and your cradle robber doing?"

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away, maybe a little too roughly, but I was sure that he could handle it. Heading towards the door to Rose's dorm room, I was surprised when a hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back, forcing me to look up into Adrian's green eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about, okay?" I practically yelled at him, once again annoyed at his antics. I never really did have a soft spot for the Ivashkov boy, but then again he was trying to pursue Roza.

"Of course you do, little dhampir." He countered, a smirk starting to play around his lips. "There's enough sexual tension between you and Belikov to set somebody alight."

There was silence for a few moments as this sunk in, were we really being that obvious? I hadn't even known that Adrian knew about us.

"I'm surprised that you haven't been caught yet, and I'm _stunned _that Lissa hasn't figured it out." Adrian broke the silence, informing me that we had in fact been obvious. "You should see the looks you share from across the room sometimes. Doesn't it make you wonder? I'm Adrian Ivashkov, an idiot in most people's opinions, and I've figured it out. So who else has?"

I shook my head from side to side angrily, even his voice was irritating me. I just wanted to get away from him, and fast. Holding my hand up to silence him, I watched as his mocking smirk fell from his face.

"Just drop it, Adrian." I ordered him, hoping that he would listen for once in his life. "I don't want to talk about it, I just want to go to sleep."

"Oh, I see." Adrian called as I turned around to go to bed. Once again, his usual arrogant smile was plastered on his face, which wasn't really a surprise. "If he doesn't want you, you always have me little dhampir. I'm at your beck and call."

Growling with frustration, I whirled around to face him and was once again stunned by his proximity. His bright green eyes were staring back at me, the tip of his nose was almost touching mine. Adrian licked his lips seductively and started to move even closer to me, dangerously close. Enough was enough.

"Will you just stop it, you don't know how… incredibly weird this situation is." I told him, wishing that he'd just back off. "Trust me, if you knew, you'd understand just how strange this is. We don't like each other, especially not in this way. Just let me go to sleep, okay?"

Adrian's expression told the tell-tale signs of hurt, however he soon put up a wall to hide his emotions, making his lazy and flirtatious grin fall easily back onto his face. He could have fooled anybody, which made me wonder if he was as happy as he always seemed. It certainly didn't look like it.

"Look, I'm sorry, but once this is back to normal, you'll understand. Believe me, you will be over the moon that I prevented this." I assured him, before escaping to my room and slamming the door in his face.

"Playing hard to get are we? I love it little dhampir!" I could barely make out through the door, meaning that he was walking away, luckily. "Anytime you need me Rose, just call."

I sighed in exasperation and leant the back of my head against the wooden door, trying to figure out my feelings. Surely, it wasn't the little green monster of jealousy rearing it's head? It couldn't be; I'd told her countless times that I wanted her to have a normal life as a guardian, without the complications that came with me. I'd told her that and completely meant it, didn't I?

I really hoped that this would all go back to normal, and soon preferably because I sure as hell didn't want to stay in this body for much longer. It was just so... awkward.

Falling onto the bed, I didn't bother changing into pyjamas because of how exhausted I was. At last, the academy was silent. Students and teachers alike were sleeping and mourning the loss of those who died in the recent attack. My eyes slid closed and I fell asleep to the thought of the raid, wondering whether or not I could worm my way into that one, seeing as I was currently a teenage novice.

However, when I awoke the raid turned out to be the last thing on my mind.

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**Hope you liked that chapter. It's really just a little filler for the next chapter, which I'm uber excited to update. It's going to be a long'un. :D **

**See you then! ;)  
**


	14. The Waking

**Okay guys, sorry to keep you waiting, but here it is anyway. I'm not one hundred percent happy with this, however I had to post it because I go on holiday in like two days. I didn't want you guys to wait for like two weeks for an update. I'll be back on Friday and will probably post on Saturday. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this as the next chapter is the last. I really hope that you enjoyed this story, it's been a pleasure to read all of your reviews!**

* * *

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

**"The Waking"**

**RPOV**

* * *

Blinking away the sleep-induced haziness, my eyes slid open to an unusual sight. I was in a different room to the one I'd fallen asleep in, yet it was definitely similar. Taking in all of my surroundings, I started to piece together the situation that I was in.

The picture that I took on Halloween, when Lissa and I were on the run in Portland, was tacked onto the wall using only a pin. It was the one where our faces were speckled with glitter; the one where our shoulders were adorned with wings. _That's weird._ I thought to myself. _Somebody has a picture of me and Lissa in their dorm room. _

I started pondering the possibility of a stalker, as strange as that sounded. Maybe they had dragged me here during the night because of their obsession?

It was then that it hit me.

Ducking under my covers to check my theory, I discovered that I was in fact right. Underneath the bed sheets was a feminine body, which was still clad in a familiar pair of jeans and a t-shirt thanks to Dimitri's gentlemanly ways. That could only mean one thing. I was in my own body once more. Rose, a woman, a novice.

That meant that I was actually in my own dorm room. Which led me to ask one simple question. _What on earth has Dimitri done to my room? _

My bed had been pulled over to the window for maximum sunlight, I presumed. The large wardrobe, which held all of my belongings, was now standing in the opposite corner to where it used to be. I didn't even know my own way around my dorm room anymore; at least I had the courtesy to not touch any of Dimitri's things when we switched bodies. The only thing that was in the same place as I'd left it was my desk and computer, which still stood in front of the far wall of my dorm room. It was no wonder why I hadn't recognised what room I was in, it had completely changed.

Unable to contain myself, I dashed over to my large wardrobe, pulling on a simple ensemble of a pair of blue jean shorts and a red snoopy t-shirt. I couldn't wait to wake Dimitri up to see his reaction… and tell him that I'd completely forgotten to set his alarm clock last night, because of Tasha's interruption. I hoped that finally being switched back to our own bodies would distract him from the fact that I'd unintentionally made him late for work.

As I made my way across campus, I couldn't help but notice the students and teachers, who were both mourning the losses of last night. My jovial feelings disappeared instantly; it was wrong of me to feel any sort of happiness, we had lost a lot of people in the attack and I had totally forgotten. I was too selflish, too caught up in my own celebrations to even spare a thought for those who had died.

"Rose," somebody yelled, their voice relieved. "I was so worried!"

I turned around and was instantly enveloped into a bone-crushing hug. Lissa, who I hadn't really seen in a few weeks, was clinging on to me as though her life depended on it. Guilt immediately invaded my body, throughout the whole of the attack I hadn't spared a thought for my best friend. I was too busy thinking selfishly about myself.

"Lissa, I'm so glad you're okay!" I screeched, realising that I could have in fact lost her. She was the only person, apart from Dimitri, that I had left.

"I am as well, although I heard that you kicked major Strigoi-ass last night." She praised me, which was undeserved seeing as it was Dimitri who had done it. "I'm so proud of you; apparently you did better than most of the guardians, if not all of them."

"I wouldn't say that, but thank you." I paused for a few moments before remembering. "How is Christian?"

"He's alright; he stayed in the chapel all night. Christian was probably the safest out of all of us."

"That's if they didn't decide to burn it down," I mumbled.

"What was that?" She asked, not quite hearing what I'd said.

"Nothing; it doesn't matter."

Lissa watched as I shifted from foot to foot impatiently. I really needed to wake Dimitri, he couldn't go and help with the raid because it was too late, but he still had to get up to guard the school.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Lissa questioned, looking at me in amusement.

"Actually… yes," I replied, biting my bottom lip. "Do you mind?"

"No, go ahead. I can talk to you later."

That was all it took for me to sprint over to where Dimitri's room was. I couldn't wait to see him; I couldn't wait to see his reaction. The last time that I was with him before our bodies were swapped, he had grown more affectionate towards me. I hoped, almost ardently, that we would return from where we'd left off. I preferred that side of Dimitri, the side that was more fond and affectionate, rather than stoic and steely.

However, when I knocked his door nobody answered. It actually wasn't until I'd resorted to screaming his name that I finally got an answer.

"He went on the raid." Stan Alto said, his voice surprisingly laced with sympathy. "God help them all," he muttered before walking off down the corridor.

_He went on the raid._

_God help them all._

Fear shot through my veins at the thought of Dimitri going on the raid without me. What if something happened to him? I would never forgive myself if he didn't come back, I'd feel as though I was responsible. After all, if we'd never swapped back, we wouldn't be in this situation.

Deflated and slightly frightened, I sulked my way back to Lissa's dorm room, longing for my best friend to comfort me in the dire situation. It was time to tell her the truth and in light of everything, I hoped that she would listen to me this time. I knocked on her door weakly, surprised at how quickly she answered.

"What's the matter?" Lissa asked, studying my expression in concern.

"Dimitri went on the raid," I muttered and watched as Lissa's expression turned from worried to confused. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Lissa grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me over so that we were both sitting on her bed. It was a blessing that she was one of the only Moroi who didn't have to share a room, but then again it could also be a curse, seeing as I could've postponed this conversation with her, had another person been living here.

"I don't understand," she said. "Why are you so nervous about that? I get that he's your mentor, but it is his job."

"Lissa, I'm going to tell you something and you have to promise me not to speak a word of this to anybody else, not even to Christian." I started hesitantly, unsure of what her reaction would be.

"I won't, you know that." Lissa assured me, placing her hand gently over mine.

I studied her intently for a few moments, making absolutely sure that she was telling the truth. I didn't need the bond, though it helped, to know that she would surely keep my secret. I just knew her that well; I knew that she wouldn't tell a soul.

"I love Dimitri." I confessed rather bluntly, shocking Lissa to no end.

"What!" She exclaimed, looking, what only can be described as, appalled. "He's your mentor! How can you be crushing on your mentor?"

Shaking my head from side to side, I hopped off the bed and began pacing. How could she not understand? She was supposed to be my best friend and, at the very least, muster up the strength to fake acceptance. However, all I felt through the bond was shock, anger and betrayal. There was no trace of any acceptance.

"This has gone too far now, Rose. I know that you love trouble, but you have to think this through. His job is at stake here." She scolded me, annoying me greatly; it wasn't like I didn't know that already. "Who are you going to get fired next? Stan?"

If I wasn't so furious, the thought of seducing Stan the man would have made me scoff. However, all I could think about was how unsupportive Lissa was being, I thought that she would be happy for me. Red started to tinge my vision, making me realise how I didn't have a handle on my emotions or my control.

"Stop being so ludicrous, Lissa!" I yelled, causing her to jump five foot in the air. "I'm not just _crushing _on my mentor. I _love _Dimitri _and_ he feels the _same_ way. We've already thought about the consequences."

Lissa sighed and lowered herself back onto the bed, resting her chin on her clasped hands. She was stunned that I'd actually shouted at her, granted it was something I didn't usually do, but it was different his time. I came to her room to be comforted, not lectured.

"Have you..." Lissa trailed off and began again. "How far has this relationship gone?"

"He's not taking advantage of me, if that's what you're asking." I assured her and headed over to join her on the bed, finally calm again.

Placing my hand gently over hers, I gave her fingers a comforting squeeze, hoping that she would get that I was being completely serious about this. She knew that I wasn't what the other students painted me out to be, I wasn't easy. Lissa had to know that letting Dimitri come anywhere near me was a sign of how absolutely genuine my feelings were.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" She prodded.

Throwing a pointed look in her direction, I watched as her mouth formed a perfect 'o' and her head nodded slightly. I was glad that I didn't tell her sooner, given the reaction that she was having now. Understanding dawned on her, lowering her head, she glared holes into her two clasped hands.

I couldn't stand the guilt that was pouring from her, through the bond and into me. I could only catch snippets of what Lissa was thinking, but her thoughts all contained the same emotion: shame.

"Have you got the time?" I asked, changing the subject completely and catching Lissa off guard.

"Yeah… it's eight thirty, why?" She said, glancing up at me with curiosity plastered all over her features.

"They should be back by now," I sighed and headed towards the door. "I'm going to go and check if he's back yet."

Walking out the door, I was surprised when I felt a hand lightly touch my shoulder. I span around and came face to face with a seemingly remorseful Lissa.

"I'm sorry, I didn't completely understand. I still don't if I'm totally honest, but for you I'll try to." She apologised. "I really wish you both the best, I know that it's unusual for you to let anybody in and I just want to say I'm really pleased for you two."

I nodded, realising that she was in fact telling the truth, and strode down the corridor, leaving Lissa behind in the doorway to her room. Dimitri had gone to the raid without me and I had to see if he was alright, because if anything had happened to him… well, I would probably never get over it. Lissa, I assumed, would understand the feeling, because if our roles were reversed and it was Christian who was on the raid, I was sure that she'd be the same.

Making my way across campus, I wasn't surprised to see the guardians dotted around, some covered from head to toe in blood and bruises. Fighting Strigoi was tough, and it was practically impossible to come out of an attack completely unscathed. It was incredibly difficult to even come out at all.

Even though there were many guardians and Moroi around the academy, along with those who had been saved, I still couldn't find Dimitri. I spotted my mother, who I hadn't even known was here, nearby, talking to some guardians about… well, guardian stuff probably.

"Mom," I called, causing her head to snap up and glance my way.

When she saw me an expression crossed her face, one that I didn't like the look of very much. It was one that bought bad news like a two for one deal, bad news that I didn't particularly want to hear. Walking towards me slowly, she patted my shoulder and turned to face me head on.

"Rose," she greeted almost morosely. "What's the matter?"

"You were on the raid, right?" I enquired, watching as she nodded her head solemnly. "What happened? Is Alberta okay?"

My mother's eyes brightened for a second, probably thinking about all of the people who had escaped from the clutches of the evil Strigoi. I prayed to God that Dimitri and Alberta had made it out fine.

"Alberta made it out alive, along with Eddie, who was your friend, right?" She asked rhetorically, not really wanting an answer._ Eddie had been taken? I was such a horrible friend._ "We lost some people though, guardians and Moroi alike. It's a shame that we lost them."

"Who did we lose?" I asked, not missing the look of hesitation that flickered across her face, which only confirmed my fears. "Who did we lose, Mom? Tell me!"

Staying stubbornly silent, my mother's face turned as red as her hair, blazing bright with anger. She didn't want to put up with me, she never had done. That was why she shipped me off to St. Vladimir's all of those years ago. Turning briskly on her heels, she marched away from me, leaving me hanging once again.

"It was him wasn't it?" I called, making her stop dead in her tracks. "We lost Dimitri."

Still, she said nothing.

Abandoning me once more in my time of need, she practically stomped away to the guardian's headquarters, leaving me upset and in a rage, which was not a good combination. Couldn't she see that I needed her? Or did she just not care?

"It's a shame?" I questioned to myself bitterly. "_It's a shame._"

The students, teachers and guardians shot me concerned and puzzled looks as they passed. I was, after all, talking to myself in a thriving part of the academy, but I wasn't going to move. I couldn't even summon up the energy.

The darkness ran through my body as though it were doing a hundred metre sprint. Instead of the pain and sorrow that I should have been feeling, I felt positively wrathful. I _hated _everything. I _hated_ my mother for not being there. I _hated_ Dimitri for not making it through the raid. I _hated_ the Strigoi for attacking us in the first place.

Straightening my hunched over body, my eyes blackened with rage. I needed to get out of the academy and hunt down every one of the Strigoi that had escaped, especially the one that had hurt Dimitri. I wanted and _needed _to kill every last disgusting Strigoi on the planet.

Out for blood and planning an escape that could possibly be considered a death-wish, only one thing would succeed at pulling me out of my spirit-induced darkness.

"Roza?" He called cautiously as though he were approaching a wild animal.

My head whipped around, his voice extinguishing the darkness that flared within me. I couldn't believe my ears or eyes. I was surely hallucinating, because this... this wasn't possible.

Dimitri was stood in front of me, covered in cuts, bruises and blood. However, that didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that he was alive and not Strigoi.

"Comrade!" I exclaimed, sprinting towards him and throwing myself into his arms. Nestling my head into the crook of his neck, I inhaled his familiar scent, basking in the reality that he was in fact alive. "How did you... how are you not dead? My mother all but told me that you hadn't made it out."

"I don't know, Roza." He murmured and stroked my hair comfortingly. "I managed to get away, I fought off the Strigoi and caught up to the others, but it really was just a stroke of good luck."

I glanced up at him, our prolonged silence making me slightly uncomfortable, and was shocked at his expression. His mouth was curved up into a relieved grin; illuminating his features and making me feel equally as happy. His eyes, which were still a gorgeous brown and not ringed in red like I had feared, studied me, drinking up anything and everything about me. Although, I guess that nearly dying could do that to a person.

The students and teachers that were travelling around the academy stared at us nosily as they walked by, making me realise that we were embracing intimately in the middle of a busy quad. We were not really behaving like a student and mentor. Pulling away slightly, I was surprised when Dimitri jerked me closer, not at all caring about our spectators.

_This is a first, _I thought as he got nearer and nearer.

I blushed furiously, staining my cheeks with crimson as he lowered his lips down to mine. Dimitri kissed me with a passion that could have set the academy on fire as he wrappeed his arms around my waist. My fingers tangled into his long, dark and wavy hair, tugging him closer to me, if at all possible. Our lips moved in synchronisation, our tongues battled for dominance. In that moment, we didn't care about the people who had stopped to stare; we didn't care about the consequences.

It was just Dimitri and I, finally together and not being secretive. Just like it was supposed to be.

* * *

**See what I mean? I'm not terribly happy with this chapter, but I had to update for you guys. I hope that you still managed to pull yourself through it. Anyway, review if you'd like. I love hearing from you guys, as you all know! Let's see if we can get to the big 200 before this story ends! :D**

**Guess what! I pressed backspace when editing it and I lost at least a thousand more words! How annoying, so sorry if it isn't that good this time around either. O.o**


	15. Our Forever

**Thank you guys for the reviews, we managed to reach 200! They really keep me going, so thank you. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I know that it's cheesy, but I like cheese and I hope that you do too. Anyway, enjoy!**

**P.S: Sorry if it's a little confusing, it's kind of like a flash back thing. **

* * *

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**"OUR FOREVER"  
**

**RPOV**

* * *

_It was just Dimitri and I, finally together and not being secretive. Just like it was supposed to be._

Things happened after our mind-blowing kiss, a lot of things. There was absolutely no point in denying that Dimitri and I were involved; it was obvious, seeing as practically the whole school witnessed our public display of affection.

Kirova, understandably, was furious. It had taken hours for Dimitri and me to calm her down, let alone to make her comprehend our relationship. Miraculously, she allowed him to keep his job and didn't expel me from her academy. I guess she understood that we'd want to grasp opportunities with both of our hands and cling onto them, given that we'd experienced more than people even twice our age.

She did, however, set a few rules. For example, Dimitri and I weren't allowed to be seen together as a couple until after I graduated. That didn't mean that we couldn't be together in private, well it did, but I was always one to break the rules.

* * *

Dimitri intertwined his fingers with mine, bringing them up to his lips to kiss them once, twice, three times. I couldn't help the grin that crept up onto my face, and it seemed neither could Dimitri. His smile seemed to light up the room, causing my legs to turn to jelly and shivers to be sent down my spine.

_Now isn't the time to be like this, _I thought to myself. _I came here to do something, so I might as well do it now, while I'm still intelligible. _

"Dimitri," I began. "I need to tell you something."

He stopped what he was doing and lifted his head up to meet my eyes, once again nearly distracting me from what I was trying to tell him. I needed to inform him of Tasha's offer, otherwise I'd never get rid of my guilty conscience.

"Tasha rang the other night, you know, while I was still you." I gulped as I watched the loving grin drop from his face, only to be replaced with confusion. "She—Tasha made you another offer."

"Roza," he breathed, understanding and love lighting his features once more. "You know that I already declined her. I've told you—"

I held up my hand, successfully silencing him for the time being. His gorgeous brown eyes bored into mine, giving me his full attention. We were both sitting side by side on the sofa in his room, having finally found a moment of privacy in between the drama that was happening around St. Vladimir's.

"Listen for a second, Comrade. Then you can talk." I interrupted him. "Tasha asked you to spend a year out with her, to see if your feelings for me are true. I mean, what if they aren't Dimitri and you refuse this offer? You could have children with her, you could have everything."

Dimitri seemed startled for a moment before he practically leapt at me, enfolding me in an affectionate embrace. Kissing my hairline gently, he rubbed my arms and leant down to whisper in my ear.

"My feelings for you are true and more, I don't think you understand just how _much _I care for you, Roza." He breathed, causing me to shiver with pleasure. "And as for children, having a family with anyone but you would be pointless."

"I—"

"Tasha wouldn't give me everything either." He interjected, not letting me finish what I was going to say. "She would be able to give me a stable job and family, but I would be unhappy. Everything to me is just being content with my life, and Roza you do that for me and so much more."

Speechless, I nodded dumbly at him, unable to form any sort of words, no matter how simple they were.

"While we're on the topic of other potential lovers, I guess you should know that Adrian gave you _another _offer. In fact, he thinks you are now playing hard to get, so, just a heads up that you'll probably get even _more _attention from him soon."

"Great," I muttered.

Dimitri's lips twitched up into a massive grin, causing my stomach to whirl with desire. Reaching towards me, he rested his hand against my cheek tenderly and bought my lips to his. At first they barely brushed against mine, however it wasn't long until something sparked between the both of us.

His lips moved against mine with a new kind of intensity, hungry and passionate, his kisses ignited my nerve endings, making me go weak in the knees. It was unusual for Dimitri, for him to act in this way, however, I couldn't deny that I loved this new, playful him.

Moving so that we were in a more comfortable position on the couch, Dimitri ran a burning trail down to my calf, stopping only to hitch my leg up so that it was practically wrapped around his own waist.

_This is it, _I thought to myself as his kisses grew more urgent_. Dimitri's control has finally snapped.  
_

Despite my excitement and fear, when we both came up for air and his chocolate brown eyes questioned if I was ready, I nodded, knowing with a hundred-percent certainty that I was. We had, after all, both been through so much, and I think we both felt the need to live life while we still had it. As Dimitri and I took the next step in our relationship, I couldn't help but feel that it wouldn't have been perfect had it been with anyone other than him.

* * *

Even though Dimitri told me that Tasha was most certainly not a problem, she didn't stop trying. In fact, it was the next day that we heard from her. It was… both an interesting and eventful encounter.

* * *

My eyelids fluttered open to the sight of Dimitri's room and for a second I thought that I was back in his body, but no. I was, in fact, waking up next to him. Lying in Dimitri's arms had to be the most comfortable thing in the world, and even though they were muscular; they were soft and encompassed me in a warm blanket of love and affection. Even though I knew it was impossible, I couldn't help the thoughts that were running through my mind; I wanted to wake up in these arms for the rest of my life.

Moving so that I was pressed even closer against him, I grinned when he wrapped his arms tighter around my body. Unfortunately my bliss was soon shattered, because just as I was about to roll over to face my lover, the door slammed against the wall behind him. I couldn't see who it was as Dimitri was hiding me, however, when the person spoke, I knew almost instantly.

"Dimka!" She shrieked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Tasha, what are you doing here?" Dimitri asked, ever polite. Never mind that she just barged into his room, invading his privacy yet again.

I suppose I was lucky that Dimitri slept on his side, because he was effectively shielding me from Tasha's eyes, if she saw that I was in his bed… well, there would probably be some sort of fight between me and her. However, I was one to use fists, not words, and seeing as Tasha was a Moroi, I would have an unfair advantage.

"I wanted to check up on you, have you made your decision yet?" Tasha answered, and _boy _did I want to applaud her on her persistence.

"How about we have this discussion downstairs, I'll meet you in one of the lounges." He suggested, however she remained standing there, not seeming to take the hint. "I need to get dressed."

I carefully peeked over Dimitri's shoulder and saw that Tasha looked confused, as though she couldn't comprehend the idea of privacy. However, I didn't believe it, assuming that her expression was just a trick of the light… that is, until she actually opened her mouth.

"So?" She questioned. "I'll just wait here."

Dimitri seemed as baffled as I was. "I—er, sleep naked." He stuttered out, his cheeks growing red. It must have been the first thing that popped into his head, given the sheer idiocy of it.

"Oh." Tasha gasped, and I could only imagine her eyes blackening with lust. _Stupid Tasha, _I thought_. Dimitri was stupid for saying that too; couldn't he think of anything better?_ "I'll just—I'll leave."

When she left and I heard the door close behind her, I sat up in bed, biting my lip to stop the laughter that was threatening to escape. Dimitri, however, did not find it amusing and shot me a look of embarrassment.

"Come on, let's just get this over with." I said, rolling my eyes as I got up to get dressed. "I can't believe you just said that."

"Shut up," he joked. "I panicked; besides, I can't believe you told her that I'd think about it."

I nodded my head and got to getting changed, we really needed to get this sorted out once and for all. Dimitri needed to be free of Tasha, although I was still convinced that she would remain waiting in the wings. If she truly loved Dimitri, then she wouldn't give up so easily.

Taking the steps two at a time, we checked all of the vacant lounges until we came across the one that Tasha was waiting in. Dimitri and I let the door slam shut noisily behind us, making Tasha's head snap up in shock.

"Rose," she greeted coldly. "What are _you _doing here?"

The lie came easily to my lips, so much so that I was quite proud of myself. "I just ran into Dimitri, who told me that you were in one of the lounges. I haven't seen you in _so _long Tash, I just needed to see you." I answered soundly.

The only answer I got in return was a quick nod of her head, and then her attention was back on Dimitri. She really wasn't taking the hint that he didn't want to go with her. However, if I was as love struck as her, I'd probably be the same. Hell, who was I kidding, there was no way that I'd act like that.

"Anyway, Dimka, what's your answer?" She asked, fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously. "I do hope that it's yes."

"Unfortunately, it's a no." He shot her down, using the less-polite method, seeing as she still hadn't quite gotten the message. "Look, Tasha, I'm flattered and everything, but—"

"I know, I know." She snapped and prowled towards Dimitri, reaching out and stroking his arm with her twig-like, white fingers. "You love somebody else, I get that."

Somehow, Tasha seemed to forget that I was in the room as she gazed up into Dimitri's eyes. I was familiar with the expression that crossed her face as she began muttering to Dimitri, because I had seen Lissa use it many times. It was the look that accompanied compulsion. My heart hammered in my chest as I headed towards them, unsure of what to do.

"I know that you love somebody else," she purred, almost seductively. "But I think that you should take a break from her, you should come and guard me for a year."

"It's not nice to use compulsion on others, Tasha," I scolded her, "especially not to get yourself a boyfriend."

Tasha's head whipped from me to Dimitri, taking in my protective stance and Dimitri's vulnerable state. It would be easy to use compulsion on him again, and I think she realized it too. Her lips curved up into a wicked smirk as she once again stared into his dazed eyes and spoke in hushed, soft tones.

"Tell me, Dimitri." She cooed. "Who is it that captured your heart? You never, ever tell me a name, no matter how many times I ask. So who is it?"

"Roza," he sighed, before falling to the floor unconscious.

That was when it went to hell.

* * *

Now, of course, that wasn't something that was easily fixed, especially since Tasha was so skilled in martial arts. Fortunately, I managed to render her unconscious so that I could contact Christian, who was actually very helpful, considering that his aunt was sprawled out senseless on the floor and everything.

I wouldn't be very surprised if Dimitri and I have a few problems involving her for the next couple of years. The most that we can hope for is that she moves on pretty quickly, because tomorrow is my graduation day, meaning that we can finally be together in public.

In the morning, Dimitri and I will be equals.

In about fifteen hours, we will both have guardian titles.

Tomorrow, we will start the adventure that is our forever.

* * *

**Thank you to everybody that reviewed this story, it was greatly appreciated and I loved hearing from you all. I hope that you enjoyed this story, and I'm sorry for the cheesy ending. If you think that the ending needed an extra scene or anything please feel free to request it in a review or PM, because I have a loooong six week holiday. I'll try to write it for you guys and put it up at the end of the story as a sort of deleted scenes thing. Anyway, it's been great and thank you again! :)**


	16. Graduation

**Okay, so you guys wanted this scene and I finally managed to get it done. I hope you enjoy this and thank you for all of your fantabulous reviews! I'm not going to use that word ever again. Ever.**

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

**"GRADUATION  
**

**RPOV**

* * *

Everybody in the gym chattered nervously as they waited for graduation to commence. I, on the other hand, was anxious about what would happen when it was over. Dimitri and I had come to an agreement, as well as Alberta, that we couldn't make our relationship known until after graduation. That meant that the only people who knew about me and Dimitri were Alberta, Adrian, Lissa and, obviously, Dimitri and I.

I had absolutely no idea about what Dimitri was planning on doing, but I hoped, for the sake of all of those involved, that it wouldn't be too dramatic. However, given his private nature, I doubted that he was going to leap onto the stage and profess his undying love for me.

That didn't sound too bad though.

Finally, after what had seemed like forever, Kirova and Alberta took to the stage. Needing no prodding, the crowd soon fell silent, awaiting the long, lecture-like speech that Kirova was surely going to voice.

"Welcome," she greeted, tapping on the microphone. "Welcome to St. Vladimir's graduation where we are saying goodbye to the class of 2010."

"This is a very special time, for dhampirs in particular, as they set off in this world where danger lurks around every corner. I wish each and every one of you the very best of luck." Kirova offered, however I tuned out the rest of her speech, only catching the end. "Now, we will begin. For those of you who are dhampirs, your trial scores will also be read out, along with the grades that you got in other classes. As you know, the trial is marked out of fifty and may affect who you are guarding for the rest of your, or their, life. Anyway, let's begin."

I was glad that that was over, it was about time too. I had never heard a speech so long. Alberta, gratefully, stepped up to the microphone and began reading names, scores and grades. Even though I was happy, it still made me sigh when Mason's name wasn't the first to be called out on a register, and Eddie, who was sitting near Lissa up front, seemed to have the same reaction that I did.

One by one they ascended up the stairs and took their diplomas. Some blushed as their grades were read out, others stood up straighter, pride written clearly across their features. Not that I blamed them, their grades _were_ impressive.

"Eddie Castile," Alberta called out. "Score of forty, winner of the award for dedication. Grades…"

_Wow,_ I thought. _He got forty out of fifty and an award? He wasn't going to have any problem getting a good charge._

Eddie himself seemed shocked as he took his diploma and made his way down the steps, even his grades were good.

Then, it was Lissa's turn. I straightened up in my chair so that I could get a better look at her as she made her way up to the stage. As her grades were read out, she gasped in surprise, however I wasn't all too shocked. She got straight 'A's… in all of her subjects.

Too soon, it was my turn and as I made my way up the stage, I couldn't help but catch Dimitri's eyes. _What was he planning? _

Dimitri had a familiar look of cunning plastered on his face; he was obviously overly pleased with himself and his plan. His brown, drown-worthy eyes sparkled as his lips curved up into his trade-mark half smile. I had never seen anything so attractive as him. He was better than any sculpture, carved by the hands of a genius.

"Rosemarie Hathaway," Alberta announced and, surprisingly, patted me on the shoulder in congratulation. "Rose has graduated with the highest score we have seen at St. Vladimir's for a long time. She managed to get forty-nine out of fifty in her trials and, shockingly, as I'm sure she'll agree, achieved a grade of an A in Guardian Alto's class."

My lips formed a stunned 'o' as I took that in. _Stan the man gave me an A?_ _There must have been some kind of mix-up there. _However, as my eyes flickered to meet Alberta's and then Dimitri's, I realized that in fact there was no mistake. They were both bristling with pride; you could see it in their every feature.

"Rose, you have graduated the top of your novice classes. Well done." Kirova praised me. "I was wrong about you and I'm sorry for that."

Even though the rest of my grades were shocking, especially math, I couldn't muster up the will to be embarrassed. I had only lost one mark in my trials. That was rare, no, it was unheard of even. I was a guardian; I didn't need pre-calculus or Slavic arts. I could celebrate and enjoy my achievements without the misery of not getting good grades, because I, Rose Hathaway, had achieved the unthinkable.

Dimitri, who was originally standing at the back of the room, fought his way through the crowd to meet me, presumably, by the stairs. He was the only thing that I could see and before I even managed to step off the last step, he swept me in a hug, not caring about who was looking on.

"Well done, Roza." He whispered in my ear, threatening to blur the lines of a friendly hug and a romantic embrace. People, if they hadn't already, were going to start catching on soon. "I told you that you could do it."

"Well, you deserve some credit, comrade." I said, putting on my best man-eater smile. "If it wasn't for you and your mentoring I wouldn't be so great. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have seemed so badass during the attack."

"Believe me, Roza, you would've seemed badass regardless."

Students and teachers alike from St. Vladimir's were starting to stare, we had been embracing for too long now. I didn't care. I was now a graduate and eighteen, it was perfectly legal. Dimitri moved his lips down to mine and I made no move to stop him. We had been through too much to let insignificant things, like other people's opinions, get in the way of our relationship.

I grinned under his lips as our audience gasped in shock, but soon sobered up when my mother and a guy wearing, what only can be described as, colourful clothing stormed up to us.

The man wore a gray pinstriped suit, a lemon yellow tie and a matching handkerchief. His fingers were adorned with golden rings and his ear held a golden ear piercing. Around his neck hung many chains and, unsurprisingly, they were all gold too. His outfit was too flashy for my liking, but considering how comfortable he looked, I got the distinct impression that he wore this in his day-to-day life.

Dimitri pulled back slightly, the distress obvious on his face. He was acting like a sixteen year old teenager, not the twenty-four year old guardian that he was.

I hadn't known that my mom was even going to bother coming to my graduation.

"Rosemarie," she practically screeched, making a scene, as per usual, in the crowded gymnasium. "What do you think—?"

However, I was too startled to listen to her, the guy—the colourful guy—had grabbed Dimitri by the collar and shoved him against a wall. No one, certainly not some Moroi, was usually strong enough to do that to Dimitri.

"_Zmey__,_" Dimitri breathed, his face contorted with fear.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing, _Smeeya,_ or whoever you are?" I ordered, grabbing his arm to tug him off of Dimitri.

_Boy, _I thought. _He is strong. _

Suddenly, I realized where I was. This was graduation, a day of joy and pride for students, parents and teachers alike, and here we were ruining it for them.

"C'mon," I urged, poking the mysterious guy's shoulder. "Let's take this outside, we're making a scene."

My mother nodded her head in agreement, seemingly as startled as I was, and led the two men outside of the gym. Turning around, with what I hoped was a look of regret; I bowed my head in apology, before heading out of the double doors.

What was waiting for me was not much better than the disbelieving stares of my classmates.

"—dare you take advantage of her!"

I sprinted around the corner, and sure enough the man was yelling at Dimitri. He was in such close proximity that I was certain Dimitri could feel the tickle of the man's goatee against his own face.

"What does it even have to do with you?" I shot back at him, vaguely registering my mother's expression of anxiety. "I don't even know you."

The man faced me, his oddly familiar brown eyes probing mine, searching for something that I wasn't aware of. When he visibly softened, I couldn't repress my sigh of relief. I didn't want a fight on my graduation day, especially not with some stranger.

"My name is Abe Mazur; however you can call me baba." He introduced himself. "_You_," he scowled, pointing at Dimitri. "We're going to have a chat later, but for now, Rose, have a great graduation."

_Baba?_

Stunned, I watched as the colourful man, Abe, stalked away from our confrontation. Shaking my head from side to side, I glanced at my mother, who was staring holes into the man's back as he walked away. Surely, that wasn't longing in her eyes? I couldn't possibly have seen that. Clearing my throat to get her attention, her head whipped around to meet my gaze.

"I'm going now; we can have this discussion some other time. I don't want to fight on my graduation day." I told her, leaving no room for discussion. Grabbing Dimitri's hand, I started to walk off in the direction of my dorm room.

"He's your father." She called out shakily.

Dimitri's breathing became uneven, which, of course, meant that I had to meet his eyes. "You're _Zmey's _daughter?" He asked incredulously.

"What?"

* * *

**Yeah, so I hoped you liked that. By the way, some of you are saying that you would like a sequel? So, I was wondering that if you did want a sequel what would you want it to be about? Let me know anyways and I'll see what I can do. Thanks for everything guys!**


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